RNC Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

RNC Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,537 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,364 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. American National Bank boosted its position in Applied Materials by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 41,931 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,083,000 after purchasing an additional 8,223 shares in the last quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC now owns 159,870 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $1,552,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,480 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 9,471 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. 75.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $122.60 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $114.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.65. The company has a market cap of $103.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $71.12 and a one year high of $142.01.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 55.08% and a net margin of 24.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 13.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,297,770.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Barclays downgraded Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Loop Capital started coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, December 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. KGI Securities raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Applied Materials from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.16.

Applied Materials Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.