Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Acquires 268 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,071 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 268 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,566,418,000 after purchasing an additional 682,098 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,322,280,000 after purchasing an additional 360,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,514,814,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna increased their target price on Applied Materials from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.14.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $1,597,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 78,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,767,230.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total value of $554,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 76,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,890,103.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $1,597,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 78,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,767,230.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $208.72 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.21 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $222.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $210.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.80.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors 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 yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.39%.

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.