Fisher Asset Management LLC Acquires 130,238 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,017,147 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 130,238 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $813,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kaizen Financial Strategies raised its stake 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 buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its stake in Applied Materials by 4.6% in the third quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,721 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,427 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Field & Main Bank raised its stake in Applied Materials by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 3,540 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have 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 note on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT traded up $3.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $197.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 899,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,990,054. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.58. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $111.72 and a twelve month high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given 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 is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.06%.

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.