Clear Creek Financial Management LLC Sells 1,388 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

by · The Markets Daily

Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Free Report) by 24.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,231 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,388 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,039,667 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,528,961,000 after purchasing an additional 487,358 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,079,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,260,178,000 after purchasing an additional 253,078 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,663,780,000 after buying an additional 1,602,645 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,588,422,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,338,520 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,356,094,000 after buying an additional 587,036 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down previously from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.76.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on AMAT

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $190.01 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $165.87 and a 200 day moving average of $163.65. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.69.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.15% and a net margin of 24.06%. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Applied Materials announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total value of $100,373.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at $946,580. This represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Materials

(Free Report)

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.

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