Tower Bridge Advisors Boosts Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Tower Bridge Advisors boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,918 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 16,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,603,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 25,448 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,504,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 15,444 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,512,000 after buying an additional 2,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 2,420 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Redburn Atlantic cut Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $225.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.17.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $188.41 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $215.70. The stock has a market cap of $151.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.73.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.15% and a net margin of 24.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $946,580. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.