Quest Partners LLC Buys Shares of 2,278 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,278 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 26,375 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $567,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 7,095.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 1,583 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 8,655 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 5,246 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT traded up $2.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $220.89. 3,795,707 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,466,837. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.80. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $126.13 and a 12-month high of $225.07. The company has a market cap of $183.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $206.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $215.00 to $210.00 in a report on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. B. Riley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Applied Materials from $222.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.64.

Applied Materials Company 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.