Brio Consultants LLC Purchases Shares of 9,370 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Key Points

• Brio Consultants LLC acquired 9,370 shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) for about $1.36 million, representing 0.5% of its portfolio.
• Institutional ownership in Applied Materials is high, with 80.56% of shares held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Analysts have adjusted price targets for Applied Materials, setting a consensus target price of $205.17 and giving it a rating of "Moderate Buy".

Brio Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,370 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,360,000. Applied Materials comprises about 0.5% of Brio Consultants LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 2,401.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 18,402.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,824,304 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,647,430,000 after buying an additional 1,814,444 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,663,780,000 after buying an additional 1,602,645 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 301.6% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,959,997 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $318,754,000 after buying an additional 1,471,953 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10,767.6% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,347,580 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $219,157,000 after buying an additional 1,335,180 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $190.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $152.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.69. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $178.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.46. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $215.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.06% and a return on equity of 40.15%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

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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