WD Rutherford LLC Makes New $234,000 Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

WD Rutherford LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,391 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 333.8% in the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 795.0% in the 3rd quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 29,606 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 26,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. UBS Group boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $203.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $168.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $109.15 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $203.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.