Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Acquired by Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc.

Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 53,463 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 896 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials makes up approximately 3.8% of Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $10,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 89.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,988 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 5.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 16.1% in the third quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 51,272 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,360,000 after buying an additional 7,094 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 17.3% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 23,949 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,939,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $3,069,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The company has a market cap of $151.18 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $191.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.57. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.67 and a 1-year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.98%.

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.