Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 245 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC cut its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,985 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 245 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $930,505,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $76,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 79,147.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,726,422 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $557,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,196 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 71,782,658 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $10,375,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 9,609,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,388,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their target price on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.83.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $206.23 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.00 and a 52 week high of $214.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $190.35 and its 200-day moving average is $161.90.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s 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.