Americana Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Americana Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 64.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,858 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 19,474 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth about $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 592.9% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price 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, January 10th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.10.

Applied Materials Trading Down 8.2 %

Shares of AMAT opened at $169.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $175.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The company has a market capitalization of $137.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.