Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Purchases Shares of 1,486 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,486 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. B. Riley increased their price objective 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $209.48 on Wednesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $109.00 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $201.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.85.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.