Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Has $1.93 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lowered its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,565 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 183 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMAT. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,722,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 252.0% during the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 4,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 3,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 26.9% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,639 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $10,636,000 after buying an additional 11,165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMAT. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.05.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $174.55 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.57 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $189.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $143.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.