KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC Buys 416 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,300 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,070,167,000 after acquiring an additional 490,597 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,199,817,000 after acquiring an additional 81,151 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Applied Materials by 9.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,061,739 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,520,000 after acquiring an additional 438,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $857,615,000 after purchasing an additional 108,827 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, B. Riley dropped their price objective 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $186.36 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.21. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.21 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $154.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.