Carnegie Investment Counsel Cuts Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Carnegie Investment Counsel decreased its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 127,231 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,328 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $20,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,288,000 after buying an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 67.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $942,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,153 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,275,000 after purchasing an additional 877,133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $186.48 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $150.20 and a one year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.24.

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.