GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases New Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,640 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 47.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,464,000 after purchasing an additional 793,610 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $441,514,000 after buying an additional 778,716 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 13,929.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $834,710,000 after purchasing an additional 511,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 117.6% during the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 926,917 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $128,341,000 after buying an additional 500,900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $194.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,049,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,140,475. The company’s 50 day moving average is $202.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.76. The stock has a market cap of $161.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

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.