Bogart Wealth LLC Boosts Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,430 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,785,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 33.4% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 7,648 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 88.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 21,153 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,362,000 after buying an additional 9,928 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth about $284,000. Aspiriant LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,927 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Citigroup cut their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AMAT traded up $0.82 on Thursday, hitting $183.52. 2,645,051 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,080,929. The company has a market cap of $151.95 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $194.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $208.75. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

About Applied Materials

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.