Dixon Fnancial Services Inc. Buys 76 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Dixon Fnancial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,443 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Dixon Fnancial Services Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Orca Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $288,000. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 5,578 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 4,931 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,619 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.71.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AMAT opened at $172.85 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.14. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $158.96 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

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.