Cibc World Market Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 36.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 318,722 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 85,531 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc.'s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $51,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. State Street Corp grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 672,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 371,866 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 318,445 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.9 %

Applied Materials stock traded down $1.55 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $178.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,304,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,704,293. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.53. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $174.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.41.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Applied Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 18.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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 note on Tuesday, November 12th. One equities research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $218.71.

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.