Root Financial Partners LLC Takes $236,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,450 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Family Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,306 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,154,552 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $187,765,000 after purchasing an additional 192,453 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 57,067 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,100 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckhead Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 2,642 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 8.2 %

AMAT opened at $169.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.96 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AMAT. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.10.

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.