True North Advisors LLC Has $216,000 Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

True North Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,327 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the quarter. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings 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 period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $340,895,000 after acquiring an additional 164,085 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the third quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,722,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 62.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,138,000 after purchasing an additional 653,739 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $190.70 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $173.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.91. The company has a market capitalization of $155.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

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.