Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stake Raised by abrdn plc

abrdn plc raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 902,080 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 185,920 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned 0.11% of Applied Materials worth $146,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Applied Materials by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,434,684 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $4,720,928,000 after purchasing an additional 301,010 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,389,048,000 after acquiring an additional 456,865 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,383,848,000 after acquiring an additional 570,080 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 9,609,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,388,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $930,505,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $4.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $189.77. 6,495,228 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,179,863. The stock has a market cap of $157.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $202.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.82.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during 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 business's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. On average, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 15.06%.

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.