Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC Has $320,000 Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC reduced its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 34.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,972 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,051 shares during the period. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clean Yield Group acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $33,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth about $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 592.9% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 213 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.41.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $192.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $173.10 and a 200-day moving average of $191.61. The company has a market capitalization of $156.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.78 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio 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.