Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stake Raised by Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,783 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,994,968,000 after buying an additional 371,866 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% during 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised 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 valued at $1,790,554,000 after buying an additional 318,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Trading Down 6.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $174.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $174.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $188.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $158.96 and a 12-month high of $255.89. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend 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.