Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Purchased by Caprock Group LLC

Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,290 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth about $773,611,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 126.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after buying an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 262.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after buying an additional 1,006,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter worth $162,873,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $169.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $139.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.81.

About Applied Materials

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.