Hartline Investment Corp Takes $243,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Hartline Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. 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 report on Thursday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, May 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.84.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,091,873.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total value of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,639,630.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.3 %

AMAT traded down $0.72 on Friday, reaching $242.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,075,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,720,328. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $200.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $249.42.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.39%.

Applied Materials Company 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.