Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.63 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 90.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,175 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,321 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,055,000 after buying an additional 6,364 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,862,000. Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 9,896 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the period. Finally, Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total value of $65,173.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $880,131.91. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $172.84 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.46. The firm has a market cap of $138.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $157.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.24.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.15% and a net margin of 24.06%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.29.

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.