New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $157.35 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 778,752 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 15,659 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of Applied Materials worth $157,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,070,167,000 after purchasing an additional 490,597 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,199,817,000 after buying an additional 81,151 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 9.5% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,061,739 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,194,520,000 after buying an additional 438,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $857,615,000 after buying an additional 108,827 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT traded down $2.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 760,292 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,055,549. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $129.21 and a one year high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.08.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

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.