Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Has $8.64 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 42,768 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises 1.2% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. JT Stratford LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% in the first quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 10,890 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% in the second quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 4,016 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 4.7% during the second quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.6% in the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,143 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Up 2.1 %

Applied Materials stock traded up $4.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $191.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 163,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,041,650. The company has a market capitalization of $157.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.61 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.37. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors 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 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.98%.

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.