Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC Has $576,000 Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC cut its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $576,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,070,167,000 after acquiring an additional 490,597 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,199,817,000 after acquiring an additional 81,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $857,615,000 after purchasing an additional 108,827 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded up $4.41 on Thursday, hitting $191.93. The stock had a trading volume of 1,122,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,045,123. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.61 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $191.07 and a 200 day moving average of $207.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 17.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.14.

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.