Apollon Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,697 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Disciplined Investments LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 53.2% during the third quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 337 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 113.1% in the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 341 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Emfo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 75.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $119.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $101.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.12 and a 52-week high of $145.16. The business's fifty day moving average is $106.32 and its 200 day moving average is $98.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.16.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 23rd will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 22nd. Applied Materials's payout ratio is presently 13.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, November 21st. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 18th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $95.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, November 21st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $117.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 39,868 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Applied Materials

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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.

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