Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,628 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,835 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after purchasing an additional 672,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $3,994,968,000 after buying an additional 371,866 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 increased 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 worth $1,790,554,000 after buying an additional 318,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $218.24.

Applied Materials Trading Up 4.5 %

AMAT stock traded up $8.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $186.48. 10,822,680 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,264,388. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $150.20 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 18.58%.

Applied Materials Company 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.