Cardinal Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 148,794 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,958 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $24,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209,218 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 67.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $942,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 262.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $379,275,000 after purchasing an additional 877,133 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $195.51 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $159.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $173.55 and a 200 day moving average of $189.91. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

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 return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company 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 firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.71.

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.