3,268 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Acquired by InTrack Investment Management Inc

InTrack Investment Management Inc acquired a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,268 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.5% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 81,088 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $19,136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,977 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $318,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 33.1% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,231 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 3,042 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 5.9% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 82,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $19,396,000 after acquiring an additional 4,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 14.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 11,927 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded up $5.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $192.05. 8,101,765 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,337,131. The stock has a market cap of $156.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.78 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $173.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $191.61.

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 (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 business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $164.00 price target (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $217.41.

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.