Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,928,639 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,526,956 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,928,639 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.80% of Applied Materials worth $1,061,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 61.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 213 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Trading Down 6.3 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $126.95 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $121.86 and a one year high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $103.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $162.19 and a 200-day moving average of $175.20.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 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, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.05%.

Applied Materials declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho lowered 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Applied Materials

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.