Financial Management Professionals Inc. Has $184,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. decreased its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 912 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 10.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,070,167,000 after acquiring an additional 490,597 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,199,817,000 after acquiring an additional 81,151 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 9.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,061,739 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,194,520,000 after acquiring an additional 438,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $857,615,000 after purchasing an additional 108,827 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AMAT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $186.52 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.21 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The business’s 50-day moving average is $193.72 and its 200-day moving average is $208.41. The company has a market capitalization of $154.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

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.