First American Trust FSB Invests $921,000 in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

First American Trust FSB acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,682 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,274,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,704 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,527 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 31.2% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 164,751 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $22,810,000 after purchasing an additional 39,194 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Applied Materials by 0.3% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,161,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $299,267,000 after purchasing an additional 6,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 9.1% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 830,038 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $114,919,000 after purchasing an additional 69,388 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $2.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $205.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,482,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,231,998. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $200.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.87. The company has a market capitalization of $170.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.72, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.00 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company's revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna increased their price target on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. B. Riley upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $197.33.

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.

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