Rheos Capital Works Inc. Grows Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,100 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises 1.5% of Rheos Capital Works Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Rheos Capital Works Inc.'s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $27,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMAT. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 341.0% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $577,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 67.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $942,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $280,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 87.7% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $379,275,000 after acquiring an additional 877,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $178.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,681,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,614,199. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $174.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 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 1-year low of $158.96 and a 1-year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials's payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.