Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Decreases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC decreased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,211 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,923 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,172 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $658,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Pacific Sage Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacific Sage Partners LLC now owns 9,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 34,736 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,018,000 after buying an additional 1,751 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 21,911 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,427,000 after buying an additional 2,884 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Susquehanna cut their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $191.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.58. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $136.67 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 17.98%.

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.