Main Street Research LLC Buys 1,494 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Main Street Research LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 152,629 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,494 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises 2.0% of Main Street Research LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $24,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,434,684 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,720,928,000 after purchasing an additional 301,010 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,389,048,000 after buying an additional 456,865 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% in the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 9,609,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,388,933,000 after buying an additional 1,925,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $930,505,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $3.21 on Tuesday, reaching $208.89. 1,926,380 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,171,946. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.34. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $109.00 and a 12 month high of $214.91. The company has a market cap of $173.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.59.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio 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.