IHT Wealth Management LLC Purchases 2,279 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,279 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp raised 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 purchasing an additional 21,699 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 15,183 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Applied Materials by 62.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,138,000 after acquiring an additional 653,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP raised its stake in Applied Materials by 157.6% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 14,967 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,024,000 after acquiring an additional 9,156 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com lowered Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.48.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.1 %

AMAT stock opened at $181.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company has a market capitalization of $149.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.52. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $187.30 and a 200-day moving average of $203.83.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted 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. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.