Naviter Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Naviter Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 121.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,067 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,427 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $85,000. Lifeworks Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 12,063 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares during the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 5,115 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 10,497 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 4,712,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $766,348,000 after buying an additional 599,450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT opened at $155.68 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $173.96 and a 200 day moving average of $181.01. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.55 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.