Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Acquired by KG&L Capital Management LLC

KG&L Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 42.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,206 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,551 shares during the period. KG&L Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dohj LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $786,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 12,414 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after buying an additional 1,144 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its position in Applied Materials by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 12,072 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 34,650.0% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 5,560 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 5,544 shares during the period. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $180.35 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.06. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $158.96 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $146.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 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.