Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Has $2.86 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,103 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Applied Materials by 1.2% during 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 period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,566,418,000 after purchasing an additional 682,098 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,322,280,000 after buying an additional 360,002 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $1,514,814,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $12,458,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total transaction of $2,325,559.55. Following the sale, the director now owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,639,630.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AMAT. Susquehanna boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.14.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $174.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $144.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $129.21 and a one year high of $255.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $209.96 and its 200 day moving average is $211.12.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

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.