Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,496 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,464,000 after acquiring an additional 793,610 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Applied Materials by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $441,514,000 after purchasing an additional 778,716 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Applied Materials by 142.4% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,140,314 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,029,000 after purchasing an additional 669,898 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 13,929.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $834,710,000 after buying an additional 511,357 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their target price on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT traded down $1.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $206.33. 2,758,180 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,869,017. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.91 and a 12-month high of $214.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $204.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.28. The company has a market capitalization of $171.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.82%.

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.