Ballentine Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Ballentine Partners LLC lowered its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,459 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,102 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Certified Advisory Corp bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $221,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Applied Materials by 70.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 31,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,526,000 after buying an additional 13,234 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 12,407 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,928,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 65.8% during the 2nd quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 13,924 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,286,000 after buying an additional 5,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,490,874 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $351,831,000 after buying an additional 117,793 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $192.87 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.22. The stock has a market cap of $156.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.95.

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.