GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,931 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 468 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $4,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 326.3% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $186.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $154.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $193.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.41. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

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.