D.B. Root & Company LLC Buys Shares of 2,579 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,579 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 70.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 31,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,526,000 after buying an additional 13,234 shares during the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 65.8% during the second quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 13,924 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,490,874 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $351,831,000 after purchasing an additional 117,793 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 259,548 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,619,000 after purchasing an additional 5,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMAT. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $195.51 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $173.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.