Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Acquires 396,233 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,661,347 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 396,233 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned 0.20% of Applied Materials worth $335,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. B. Riley lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.48.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $174.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $188.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.58%.

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.