Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 1,964 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,982 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,117,176 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $12,012,171,000 after purchasing an additional 973,218 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,566,418,000 after purchasing an additional 682,098 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position 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 worth $1,383,848,000 after purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth $1,514,814,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. B. Riley lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays upgraded Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 research note on Monday, May 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $12,458,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total transaction of $4,446,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at $24,091,873.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $235.99. 5,716,426 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,781,751. The firm has a market cap of $195.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.73. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $249.42.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.39%.

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.