Accredited Investors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Accredited Investors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 42.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,730 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 2,028 shares during the quarter. Accredited Investors Inc.'s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $340,895,000 after buying an additional 164,085 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its position in Applied Materials by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 13,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in Applied Materials by 59.1% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 45,378 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $7,380,000 after purchasing an additional 16,851 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $339,000. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 170,100 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $27,663,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Edward Jones upgraded Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $202.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $213.14.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $143.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,499,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,603,673. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.82, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. Research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is a positive change from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.05%.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total value of $65,173.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $880,131.91. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson purchased 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $137.30 per share, for a total transaction of $6,865,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $235,614,763.40. This trade represents a 3.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Materials 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.