5,415 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Bought by FCG Investment Co

FCG Investment Co acquired a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,415 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,094,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Motiv8 Investments LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 2.3% during the third quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 3.0% during the third quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 34,980 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,068,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in Applied Materials by 4.0% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 816,742 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $165,321,000 after purchasing an additional 31,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 4.5% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 592,965 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $119,809,000 after purchasing an additional 25,349 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. StockNews.com downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $187.51 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $193.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 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.