Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,635 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $33,000. 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 purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% in the 2nd quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.05.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $174.55 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.57 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $189.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $205.49. The company has a market cap of $143.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. 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.