Isthmus Partners LLC Trims Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Isthmus Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 16.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,612 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 11,643 shares during the quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $12,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Applied Materials by 29.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Applied Materials by 262.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after buying an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 87.7% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $379,275,000 after buying an additional 877,133 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after buying an additional 858,122 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Applied Materials by 62.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,138,000 after buying an additional 653,739 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.05.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $171.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.76. The firm has a market cap of $141.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.57 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.