Penserra Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Penserra Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,419 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,090 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $33,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its position in Applied Materials by 326.3% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 56.0% during the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, B. Riley lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.05.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.5 %

AMAT opened at $174.88 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.56. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.57 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $189.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.71.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

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.