Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton Cuts Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lessened its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 21.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 335 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $54,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 27.2% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 16,072 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,793,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2,860.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A now owns 68,364 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,133,000 after purchasing an additional 66,055 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,775 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $1,340,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price target (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.24.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $173.65 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $173.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.74. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.84 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $141.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm 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 0.92%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Applied Materials 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.