Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,580 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,663,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,602,645 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,954,305 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $968,349,000 after acquiring an additional 484,133 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,913,942 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $636,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056,787 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,636,546 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $591,412,000 after acquiring an additional 678,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $946,580. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho increased their price target on Applied Materials from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.09.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $178.14 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $215.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.87. The company has a market capitalization of $142.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.70.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

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.