Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Has $659,000 Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,054 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 436 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $659,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,919 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 82.6% during the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,882 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,770,000 after buying an additional 4,924 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $182,962,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Applied Materials by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 238,593 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,802,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 701.5% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,866 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,369,000 after acquiring an additional 23,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMAT. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp raised shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research 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.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.38.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $155.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $174.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.78. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.55 and a 12-month high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. Equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.