Heritage Financial Services LLC Has $804,000 Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Heritage Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,959 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the period. Heritage Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 3.0 %

AMAT opened at $203.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $168.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $203.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.77.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. Applied Materials’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend 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.