Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt Buys Shares of 968,000 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 968,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $157,426,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt owned approximately 0.12% of Applied Materials as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 61.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 213 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total value of $46,807.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $168.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $175.59 and a 200 day moving average of $183.46. The company has a market capitalization of $136.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMAT. KeyCorp raised Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.38.

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.