Huntington National Bank Increases Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 445,357 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,411 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $89,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,722,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 252.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 4,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 3,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,239 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Susquehanna cut their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho cut their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.24.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $182.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $190.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.30. 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 stock has a market cap of $150.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $141.94 and a 1-year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 17.98%.

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.