Allen Capital Group LLC Acquires 187 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,554 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $28,000. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $33,000. First PREMIER Bank increased its position in Applied Materials by 326.3% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 56.0% during the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.05.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $174.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $205.74. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.57 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.58%.

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.