Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 399,850 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 399,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $65,028,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMAT. Field & Main Bank grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 3,170 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,601 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Mezzasalma Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Mezzasalma Advisors LLC now owns 2,060 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,862 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.48.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $160.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $130.41 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a fifty day moving average of $150.07 and a 200 day moving average of $164.96. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 22.38%.

Applied Materials announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. This trade represents a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $65,173.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $880,131.91. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.