Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Receives $197.33 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and nineteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $201.50.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $199.89 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $202.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $109.12 and a twelve month high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $930,505,000. Cowa LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $76,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 79,147.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,726,422 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $557,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,196 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3,940.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,175,766 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $352,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% in the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 9,609,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,388,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925,722 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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.