Tobam Raises Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Tobam raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2,894.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 539 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. Tobam’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $99,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1,008.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,619,000 after acquiring an additional 32,893 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 23.0% in the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,643 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,315,000 after purchasing an additional 2,363 shares during the period. Sienna Gestion increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% in the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 113,221 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $18,924,000 after purchasing an additional 10,468 shares in the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 501,587 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $91,826,000 after purchasing an additional 35,437 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,129,000 after buying an additional 6,704 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $230.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.02. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $242.50.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.31.

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.