Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 432.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 484,503 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 393,447 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned 0.06% of Applied Materials worth $97,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $28,000. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter worth $33,000. First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 326.3% in 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 period. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMAT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup decreased their price target 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. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.05.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock opened at $174.88 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56. 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 52-week low of $144.57 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.71.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.