Planning Directions Inc. Buys Shares of 1,920 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Planning Directions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,920 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth $930,505,000. Cowa LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter worth $76,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $557,639,000 after buying an additional 5,719,196 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,925,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,892,930 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $562,685,000 after buying an additional 1,517,116 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ AMAT traded down $4.55 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $189.77. 6,495,228 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,179,863. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.15 and a 52 week high of $214.91. The stock has a market cap of $157.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share 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. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 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.