Syon Capital LLC Buys 3,289 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Syon Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 41.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,279 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,289 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sycomore Asset Management increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 33,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 11,825 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 19,270 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,123,000 after buying an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 51,582 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,360,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,211,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 520.4% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 3,350 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,810 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMAT. Barclays raised their price target on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.7 %

AMAT traded up $1.44 during trading on Thursday, hitting $197.50. The company had a trading volume of 4,179,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,148,598. The company has a market capitalization of $164.10 billion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $109.15 and a one year high of $214.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $203.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

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.