Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Trims Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 110,352 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 4,937 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $17,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Advisory Resource Group increased its position in Applied Materials by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 24,867 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $5,024,000 after buying an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,746 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its stake in Applied Materials by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 47,649 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $9,627,000 after purchasing an additional 9,941 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,845 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 4,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 54,967 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $11,106,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AMAT. 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 note on Friday, March 28th. Edward Jones upgraded Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $65,173.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $880,131.91. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $137.30 per share, for a total transaction of $6,865,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,716,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $235,614,763.40. This represents 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 currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $1.75 on Thursday, hitting $148.96. 6,725,748 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,713,653. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $148.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.61. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.05%.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.