Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Has $907,000 Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,576 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.8% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 7,641 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Applied Materials by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 28,527 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,764,000 after purchasing an additional 6,586 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank increased its stake in Applied Materials by 326.3% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 56.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 62,913 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,711,000 after buying an additional 22,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 9.0% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 10,444 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,090,000 after buying an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMAT. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho lowered 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, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $182.80 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $158.96 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $174.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.88. 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 company has a market cap of $148.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Applied Materials Company 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.