Courier Capital LLC Sells 188 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Courier Capital LLC trimmed its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,041 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 188 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 10.2% in the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,999 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $969,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 9.2% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 286,616 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,682,000 after buying an additional 24,167 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 22.9% during the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 4,709 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 877 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.6% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 7,440 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 81.9% during the third quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 57,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,008,000 after buying an additional 26,042 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total transaction of $554,050.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,890,103.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total transaction of $554,050.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares in the company, valued at $16,890,103.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $235.99 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.56. The company has a market cap of $195.39 billion, a PE ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.21 and a 12-month high of $249.42.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.84.

Applied Materials Company 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.