Beacon Financial Group Takes $247,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Beacon Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,516 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 592.9% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.00.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $180.89 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.96 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $147.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced 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 return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. 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.