Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Holdings Trimmed by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,787 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 189 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $14,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at $773,611,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter worth about $162,873,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, B. Riley reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.05.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $173.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market cap of $142.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.23. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.57 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.