YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Has $789,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 67.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 262.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $280,951,000 after buying an additional 1,006,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 87.7% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,275,000 after buying an additional 877,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.71.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $172.85 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.14. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $158.96 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a market capitalization of $140.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.58%.

Applied Materials 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.