Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. cut its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,843 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 539 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Grimes & Company Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 0.7% in the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 97,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $20,151,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 4.8% in the first quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 7,286 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 105.0% in the first quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 2,851 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in Applied Materials by 75.0% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 700 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $234,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $1,597,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 78,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,767,230.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $12,458,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,223,763.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $235.99. The stock had a trading volume of 6,387,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,592,667. The company has a market capitalization of $195.39 billion, a PE ratio of 27.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $218.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.83. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.21 and a 1 year high of $249.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $215.00 to $210.00 in a report on Monday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.84.

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.