Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Sold by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 78.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,931 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 46,560 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 16,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,603,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 9,896 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,608,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 4,829 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,328 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday. DZ Bank cut shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $194.84.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total value of $100,373.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at $946,580. This represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Down 14.1%

Shares of AMAT opened at $161.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm's 50-day moving average is $184.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.71. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $215.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 41.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 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 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.93%.

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.

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