Blue Trust Inc. Sells 8,130 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 59.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,609 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 8,130 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $7,841,178,000 after purchasing an additional 672,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $3,994,968,000 after buying an additional 371,866 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $3,316,269,000 after buying an additional 858,122 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,861,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,790,554,000 after acquiring an additional 318,445 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,655,308 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,082,353,000 after acquiring an additional 84,130 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp raised Applied Materials from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.38.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.1 %

Applied Materials stock traded up $1.98 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $176.04. The company had a trading volume of 6,686,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,702,766. The firm has a market cap of $143.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $175.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.98. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $158.96 and a 1 year high of $255.89. 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 (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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.92%.

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.