Concord Wealth Partners Grows Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,270 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the quarter. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $186.36. The company had a trading volume of 822,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,066,179. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $193.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.40. The firm has a market cap of $154.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

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.