J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Purchases 95 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,560 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $921,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% in the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $168.88 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.87. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.94 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a market capitalization of $139.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.71% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.81.

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.