Kintegral Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Kintegral Advisory LLC cut its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,790 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,481 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position 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. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $171.98 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $175.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $183.92. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective 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. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.