PGGM Investments Sells 10,079 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

PGGM Investments lessened its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,803 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 10,079 shares during the period. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $19,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 91.0% during the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,614 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,198 shares during the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,126,000. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 659,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $107,004,000 after buying an additional 34,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dohj LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $393,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock traded up $5.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $203.38. 3,933,453 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,553,379. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.15 and a 52 week high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.