Fruth Investment Management Has $3.24 Million Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Fruth Investment Management trimmed its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,925 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after buying an additional 672,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,994,968,000 after purchasing an additional 371,866 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,316,269,000 after buying an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,861,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,790,554,000 after buying an additional 318,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.71.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $180.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $174.67 and a 200-day moving average of $185.92. The company has a market cap of $146.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.