Monument Capital Management Buys 136 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Monument Capital Management raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Monument Capital Management’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,389,048,000 after buying an additional 456,865 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,383,848,000 after acquiring an additional 570,080 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,968,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $687,936,000 after acquiring an additional 230,789 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,529,689 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $488,685,000 after purchasing an additional 32,622 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,831,986 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $458,980,000 after buying an additional 351,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AMAT opened at $189.46 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.38. The company has a market cap of $157.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

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.