Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,844 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,367 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $882,396,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 43.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $808,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691,428 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,140,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,995 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.31.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $230.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $242.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $209.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.02.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.93%.

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.