Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Gap Up to $232.17

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $232.17, but opened at $237.50. Applied Materials shares last traded at $235.69, with a volume of 381,248 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $222.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.84.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.5 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $218.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.56. The firm has a market cap of $195.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total value of $4,446,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total transaction of $554,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,890,103.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $741,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 11,822.8% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 19,911 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,757,000 after buying an additional 19,744 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.2% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 4,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 12.7% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 23,091 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,197,000 after buying an additional 2,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $249,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Materials

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.