Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $1.76 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,825 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 866 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total value of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. KeyCorp raised shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

Applied Materials Stock Down 7.0 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $156.67 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $175.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $127.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.38 and a twelve month high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

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.