The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 62.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 653,739 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.21% of Applied Materials worth $343,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $28,000. PSI Advisors LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 56.0% during the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank boosted its position in Applied Materials by 326.3% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.
NASDAQ AMAT opened at $174.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock's fifty day moving average is $189.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.58%.
AMAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. B. Riley lowered their target price 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. Bank of America cut their price target 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, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $222.05.
Check Out Our Latest Report on 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.
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