Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. Buys Shares of 1,691 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,691 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 3,733 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,721 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,343 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co raised its position in Applied Materials by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 28,027 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,880,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded up $3.66 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $193.12. 2,560,912 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,169,135. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

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.