Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires Shares of 399,850 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 399,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $65,028,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Josh Arnold Investment Consultant LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,268,000. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 18,498 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 3,776 shares during the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 11,777 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 45,400 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $7,383,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Edward Jones raised shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.48.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded down $3.01 on Friday, hitting $157.51. The company had a trading volume of 5,730,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,896,893. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The company has a market cap of $127.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.39.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 22.38%.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $65,173.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $880,131.91. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $137.30 per share, for a total transaction of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials 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.