Liberty Wealth Management LLC Buys 204 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,127 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $4,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $773,611,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 126.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. B. Riley dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $192.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $158.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $190.99 and its 200 day moving average is $207.30. 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 12-month low of $141.94 and a 12-month high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 17.98%.

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.