Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Has $30.60 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lowered its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 188,171 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 14,596 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $30,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 592.9% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.38.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $176.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Applied Materials Profile

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.