Truist Financial Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 577,324 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 28,663 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $93,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AMAT. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 592.9% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.10.

Applied Materials Stock Down 8.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $169.20 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $137.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.