Meitav Investment House Ltd. Acquires 96,031 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 984.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,783 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,031 shares during the quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $17,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $340,895,000 after purchasing an additional 164,085 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,722,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,138,000 after buying an additional 653,739 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.2 %

AMAT opened at $174.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $175.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

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.