Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 217,368 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 27.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 996,139 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 217,368 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.12% of Applied Materials worth $201,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter worth about $33,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% during the third 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. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% during the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $219.81.

Applied Materials Trading Down 9.2 %

Shares of AMAT traded down $17.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $168.88. 16,287,484 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,981,500. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.94 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56. The business's 50-day moving average price is $190.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.87.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 39.71% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

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.