ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Raises Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 19.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,071 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMAT. OFI Invest Asset Management raised its position in Applied Materials by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 12,375 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,725,000 after buying an additional 4,037 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 2,786 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,496,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,346 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, 1858 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $297,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.9 %

AMAT traded down $3.93 on Friday, hitting $207.90. The company had a trading volume of 11,644,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,003,964. The firm has a market cap of $172.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.90, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.21 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $222.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.70. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.56.

About Applied Materials

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.