Naples Money Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,500 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,500 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 76.9% during the third quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 333.8% during the third quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 295 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James increased their price target on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays raised their target price on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $4.55 on Friday, hitting $189.77. The stock had a trading volume of 6,493,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,204,208. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.24. The firm has a market cap of $157.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.