Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Has $530,000 Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 22.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,855 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $530,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 0.9% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 17,153 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 21.3% during the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 42,173 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,120,000 after purchasing an additional 7,410 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 5.8% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,303 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the first quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 492,574 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $71,482,000 after purchasing an additional 6,373 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 13.4% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 11,059 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $946,580. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMAT. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.17.

Applied Materials Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of AMAT opened at $190.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $152.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.69. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $215.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $178.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.15% and a net margin of 24.06%. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

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.