902 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Acquired by New Covenant Trust Company N.A.

New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 902 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $186,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. RFP Financial Group LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 96.6% during the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 173 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $15.90 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $196.30. 11,239,701 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,840,208. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.21 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $228.19 and a 200 day moving average of $207.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total transaction of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,639,630.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMAT. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $222.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.84.

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.