Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 61.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 213 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. KeyCorp raised shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $145.06 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $144.12 and a one year high of $255.89. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market cap of $117.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.05%.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Applied Materials

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.