B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes $37.48 Million Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 185,481 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,476,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 15,183 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 252.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 4,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,639 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $10,636,000 after acquiring an additional 11,165 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna cut their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.81.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.1 %

AMAT opened at $170.73 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.57 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.68. The firm has a market cap of $140.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.52 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, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.