Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 57,263 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 45.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 183,841 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,263 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $29,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. First PREMIER Bank increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 592.9% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $186.75 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $158.96 and a one year high of $255.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $173.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMAT. KeyCorp raised Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.71.

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.