Financial Counselors Inc. Acquires 4,773 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 108,816 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,773 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $21,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Applied Materials by 262.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Applied Materials by 62.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,138,000 after purchasing an additional 653,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 18,449.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 643,102 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,299,390,000 after purchasing an additional 639,635 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $171.32 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.57 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.99.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.05.

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.