Opinicus Capital Inc. Purchases New Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Opinicus Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,950 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,126,000. Applied Materials accounts for 1.1% of Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aldebaran Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $7,274,000. Sycomore Asset Management lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 33,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 11,825 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,130,000 after purchasing an additional 6,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,704 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,527 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of AMAT traded up $5.88 during trading on Friday, reaching $203.38. 3,933,453 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,553,379. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The stock has a market cap of $168.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 15.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

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.