Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Has $58.19 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 357,789 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,523 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises about 1.1% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $58,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 19,629 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,193,000 after purchasing an additional 3,652 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 5,259 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 17,567 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,857,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,063 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial River Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 2,147 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped 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 report on Friday, November 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.38.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $171.98 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $175.64 and its 200-day moving average is $183.90. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $158.96 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released 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 net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

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.