Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,988 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 214 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $857,615,000 after purchasing an additional 108,827 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 72.4% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 16,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,264,000 after buying an additional 6,786 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 5.5% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,366 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,529,000 after buying an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 32.1% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,688 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,351,000 after buying an additional 1,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the third quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 55,149 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $11,142,000 after buying an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total value of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. TD Cowen cut their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Mizuho cut their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.38.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $155.68 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $173.96 and a 200 day moving average of $181.01. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.55 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.