Capital Advisors Inc. OK Has $52.45 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 25.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 361,437 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 73,286 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $52,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,039,667 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $12,528,961,000 after buying an additional 487,358 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,079,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $3,260,178,000 after buying an additional 253,078 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Applied Materials by 18.6% in 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $1,588,422,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,338,520 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,356,094,000 after buying an additional 587,036 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at $946,580. The trade was a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. B. Riley reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.65.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded up $0.78 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $195.77. The company had a trading volume of 3,065,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,089,626. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.69. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $169.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.35. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $255.89.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.