First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 625 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,209 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 625 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $245,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,052,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,006,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 11.8% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 140.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 5,553 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after buying an additional 3,245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.71.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $186.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $174.00 and a 200-day moving average of $189.50. The company has a market cap of $151.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

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.