SYM FINANCIAL Corp Acquires Shares of 1,236 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,236 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $238,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 142.4% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,140,314 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $176,029,000 after acquiring an additional 669,898 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $303,000. TCG Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 510.5% in the fourth quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,013 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 9,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AJOVista LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $128,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James boosted 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $6.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $204.09. 3,818,510 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,695,384. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $111.72 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $203.89 and a 200 day moving average of $173.57. The stock has a market cap of $169.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.58. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 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.