Haverford Trust Co Has $676,000 Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 26.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,348 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,690 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 29.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 134,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $27,075,000 after purchasing an additional 30,673 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 2.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 8,448 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 111,695 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $22,568,000 after buying an additional 2,464 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.24.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $186.00 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.94 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $190.88 and its 200-day moving average is $207.13. The firm has a market cap of $153.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 17.98%.

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.