Callan Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Callan Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,525 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 20,079 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,914,000 after buying an additional 3,987 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 361,437 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $52,452,000 after buying an additional 73,286 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,539,435 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $223,403,000 after buying an additional 493,164 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 99,592 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $14,452,000 after buying an additional 25,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. now owns 1,558 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. B. Riley reduced 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.65.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of Applied Materials 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $946,580. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $195.39. 6,169,668 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,101,513. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $169.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.35. The firm has a market cap of $156.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.06% and a return on equity of 40.15%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

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.