Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Position Raised by Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 2nd, 2023

Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 152.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 887 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $86,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cowa LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,311,447 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $435,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,029 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $95,175,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,598,930 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $376,790,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,748,165 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $225,157,000 after acquiring an additional 904,135 shares in the last quarter. 75.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $122.83 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $71.12 and a one year high of $142.01. The company has a market capitalization of $103.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.66 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 55.08% and a net margin of 24.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 24th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 13.94%.

Applied Materials declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 13th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Applied Materials from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Craig Hallum raised their target price on Applied Materials from $126.00 to $139.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Applied Materials from $88.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Cowen lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $279.00 to $271.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.16.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total transaction of $3,671,666.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,228,960.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $3,671,666.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,228,960.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,548,110.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,634 shares of company stock worth $4,512,426 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Applied Materials

(Get Rating)

Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.