National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 3rd, 2023

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 53.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226,895 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 261,972 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $22,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Disciplined Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 53.2% in the third quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 337 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 55.0% in the third quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 372 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Emfo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 400 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 75.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $122.83 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.12 and a fifty-two week high of $142.01. The stock has a market cap of $103.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 13th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to purchase up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 25th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 194,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,228,960.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the firm’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,228,960.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at $11,548,110.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,634 shares of company stock worth $4,512,426. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. KGI Securities raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Cowen decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $279.00 to $271.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Applied Materials from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Craig Hallum increased their price target on Applied Materials from $126.00 to $139.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.16.

Applied Materials Profile

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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.