BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Acquires 116,312 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,053,230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 116,312 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $212,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $773,611,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 126.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $162,873,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.81.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $170.49 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. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.57 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $140.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $190.26 and its 200 day moving average is $206.19.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

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.