Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Acquired by Natixis Advisors L.P.

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 578,580 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,018 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned approximately 0.07% of Applied Materials worth $93,770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,389,048,000 after purchasing an additional 456,865 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after acquiring an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,017,147 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $813,129,000 after acquiring an additional 130,238 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,968,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $687,936,000 after acquiring an additional 230,789 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,838,268 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $622,068,000 after acquiring an additional 308,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One 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 MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of AMAT stock traded up $6.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $204.09. The company had a trading volume of 3,817,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,996,778. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $111.72 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The company has a market capitalization of $169.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.13.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm 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, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.06%.

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.