Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Has $11.40 Million Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 56,440 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 12,820 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $11,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Americana Partners LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 4.8% during the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 30,332 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,172 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $658,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Sage Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.3% in the third quarter. Pacific Sage Partners LLC now owns 9,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.3% in the third quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 34,736 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMAT. Citigroup reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $191.65 and a 200-day moving average of $207.58. The stock has a market cap of $151.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $136.67 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.98%.

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.