International Assets Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

International Assets Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 99.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,215 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 639,887 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $340,895,000 after purchasing an additional 164,085 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,722,000 after buying an additional 21,699 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after buying an additional 15,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Applied Materials by 62.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,138,000 after buying an additional 653,739 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho lowered 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. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $171.65 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.48 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $139.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.18.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued 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. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid 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 0.93%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.