Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 183 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lessened its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 946 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $155,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 18,498 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after buying an additional 3,776 shares during the period. JT Stratford LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 11,777 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 45,400 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,383,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 157,864 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $25,673,000 after purchasing an additional 19,707 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 5,968 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $157.51 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $127.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $164.15. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.38%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $65,173.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $880,131.91. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMAT. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.48.

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.