Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 784 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,229 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 784 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 8.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,490,874 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $351,831,000 after purchasing an additional 117,793 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. grew its stake in Applied Materials by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 259,548 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $61,619,000 after buying an additional 5,488 shares during the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 381 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter worth about $245,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $190.70 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $158.96 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $155.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.71.

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.