Provence Wealth Management Group Purchases 582 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Provence Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,937 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 3,957 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 3,733 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.6% in the third quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,721 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,427 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT traded up $6.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $204.09. 3,818,510 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,695,384. The company has a market cap of $169.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $111.72 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $203.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Applied Materials 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.