American Trust Has $477,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

American Trust lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 17.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,315 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 480 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.3% during the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 24,182 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,024,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.1% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 50,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $9,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 32.9% during the first quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 236,368 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $48,746,000 after purchasing an additional 58,500 shares during the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 20.3% during the first quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 3,617 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth $158,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays raised shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total transaction of $554,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,890,103.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT traded down $14.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $181.81. The company had a trading volume of 12,991,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,521,505. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.78. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.80. The company has a market capitalization of $150.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.