River Global Investors LLP Sells 1,898 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

River Global Investors LLP decreased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,898 shares during the period. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Aldebaran Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,274,000. Sycomore Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 33,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 11,825 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,130,000 after purchasing an additional 6,001 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 132.7% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,704 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 9,527 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded up $6.18 on Friday, reaching $204.09. The company had a trading volume of 3,818,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,695,384. The firm has a market cap of $169.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $203.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.57. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $111.72 and a 1 year high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

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.