Conscious Wealth Investments LLC Decreases Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Conscious Wealth Investments LLC cut its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,321 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials makes up approximately 2.4% of Conscious Wealth Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 89.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,988 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 23,949 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,939,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,069,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 218.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 825,308 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $170,182,000 after buying an additional 566,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded up $2.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $186.52. 4,794,657 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,091,412. The stock has a market cap of $154.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $193.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.41. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.21 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMAT. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Company 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.