Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $68.79 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 340,434 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,724 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $68,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $773,611,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 126.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $464,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after acquiring an additional 891,446 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth about $162,873,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 20.4% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,623,048 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $953,411,000 after purchasing an additional 784,780 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.7 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $186.36 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.21 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

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.