Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Acquires New Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Atlas Brown Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 7,986 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 23,613 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,827,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 692.9% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 2,775 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 12,950 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Barclays upped their price target on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.83.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $1.77 on Friday, reaching $206.23. 5,750,078 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,837,045. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.00 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.27 and a 200 day moving average of $162.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

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.