Harbor Island Capital LLC Reduces Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Harbor Island Capital LLC lessened its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 177,409 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 21,840 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises about 17.0% of Harbor Island Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Harbor Island Capital LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $35,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,070,167,000 after purchasing an additional 490,597 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,199,817,000 after buying an additional 81,151 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,061,739 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,194,520,000 after buying an additional 438,691 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $857,615,000 after buying an additional 108,827 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $1.97 on Friday, hitting $185.21. 1,294,442 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,077,627. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.21 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $209.36.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. B. Riley lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

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.