DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Grows Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 816,742 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 31,337 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.10% of Applied Materials worth $165,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after buying an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,070,167,000 after buying an additional 490,597 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,199,817,000 after buying an additional 81,151 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Applied Materials by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,061,739 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,520,000 after acquiring an additional 438,691 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $857,615,000 after acquiring an additional 108,827 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. B. Riley reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock opened at $186.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $154.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $193.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.41.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s 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.