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

AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,541 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,655 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 333.8% during the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock traded down $5.47 on Thursday, reaching $194.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,177,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,170,823. The company has a market cap of $161.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.12 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $202.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.06.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 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.