Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Sells 43,987 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 72.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,326 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 43,987 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 12,522 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,036,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 2,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,153 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,163,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank grew its stake in Applied Materials by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 120,742 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,636,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 4,906 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $798,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.24.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $0.79 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $170.86. The stock had a trading volume of 5,461,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,008,178. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.84 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Applied Materials Company 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.