Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Has $1.02 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,265 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 4,505 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 177,866 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $28,827,000 after buying an additional 31,534 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 11,241 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,822,000 after buying an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,505 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,837,000 after buying an additional 6,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. B. Riley increased their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock remained flat at $193.24 on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 1,803,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,136,564. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.15 and a 52 week high of $214.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share 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 given a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s dividend 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.