Planned Solutions Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,365 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,365 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $930,505,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter worth approximately $76,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 79,147.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,726,422 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $557,639,000 after buying an additional 5,719,196 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 71,782,658 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,375,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,896 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 9,609,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,388,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. B. Riley upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.83.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $208.00 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $109.00 and a 52-week high of $214.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $189.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $161.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. The company has a market cap of $172.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.