Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $311.95 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,543,905 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 2,295,810 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.19% of Applied Materials worth $311,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in 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 valued at $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the third quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $13,722,000 after buying an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $230,158,000 after buying an additional 15,183 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 252.0% in the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 4,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 3,389 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 26.9% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,639 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $10,636,000 after buying an additional 11,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $219.81.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $174.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,239,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,162,263. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.57 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $144.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.