AIA Group Ltd Purchases 6,655 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,541 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,655 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 3,733 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,721 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,343 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.3% in the third quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 28,027 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Applied Materials from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock traded down $5.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $194.32. 6,218,424 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,200,348. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $202.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.24. The firm has a market cap of $161.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $109.12 and a 1-year 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 a positive change from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials's payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

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.