Acropolis Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 90.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,376 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,554 shares during the quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clean Yield Group acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $33,000. First PREMIER Bank increased its position 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 worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 592.9% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 61.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 213 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMAT. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.24.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $173.65 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.84 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.74.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 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, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 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.