Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires 11,378 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 84,911 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,378 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $13,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.5 %

AMAT stock opened at $152.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.55 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $174.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.96.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMAT. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.38.

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.