Parallel Advisors LLC Purchases 295 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,723 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 295 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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 worth $7,841,178,000 after acquiring an additional 672,548 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.9% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 371,866 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.7% during the 3rd 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 worth $1,790,554,000 after purchasing an additional 318,445 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,655,308 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,082,353,000 after buying an additional 84,130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $155.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.37 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $126.30 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.88.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 24.05%.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.