Farmers Trust Co. Purchases 62 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Farmers Trust Co. grew its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,435 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,067 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $173,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 23,477 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,809 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 95,269 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 2,806.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 124,528 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $20,182,000 after purchasing an additional 120,243 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMAT. StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.90.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.8 %

AMAT opened at $199.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.88. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.21 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.55.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 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.