Nepsis Inc. Makes New Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 47,998 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,000. Applied Materials accounts for approximately 2.7% of Nepsis Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Wealth Advisors raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 5,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 3,957 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,496 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 15,262 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,474,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies increased its position in Applied Materials by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 3,733 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMAT. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays upgraded Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $225.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.84.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $2.78 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $232.62. 890,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,770,280. The stock has a market cap of $192.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $249.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $215.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $193.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total value of $554,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares in the company, valued at $16,890,103.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total value of $554,050.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,890,103.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total transaction of $4,446,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,091,873.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.