S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC Has $1.26 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 65.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,736 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,059 shares during the quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $337,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 27.2% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 16,072 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,793,000 after buying an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A lifted its position in Applied Materials by 2,860.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A now owns 68,364 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $16,133,000 after buying an additional 66,055 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,775 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.24.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $173.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $173.43 and its 200-day moving average is $191.74. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $149.84 and a one year high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $141.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

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.