Short Interest in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Rises By 17.7%

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,190,000 shares, an increase of 17.7% from the August 15th total of 12,910,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Applied Materials news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total value of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,639,630.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,566,418,000 after acquiring an additional 682,098 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,226,581,000 after acquiring an additional 224,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,322,280,000 after acquiring an additional 360,002 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $1,514,814,000. 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 AMAT shares. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.95.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $1.95 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $186.52. The stock had a trading volume of 2,376,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,066,247. The firm has a market cap of $153.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $204.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $210.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. Applied Materials has a 1 year low of $129.21 and a 1 year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates 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 firm posted $1.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

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.