Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 11,593 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 335.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,593 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after acquiring an additional 672,548 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,994,968,000 after purchasing an additional 371,866 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,861,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,790,554,000 after buying an additional 318,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Applied Materials by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $186.75 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.96 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $151.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen cut their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.71.

Applied Materials Company 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.