Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Barclays from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 12.29% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AMAT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.10.

Applied Materials Trading Down 8.2 %

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $169.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $175.36 and its 200 day moving average is $184.59. Applied Materials has a 12 month low of $158.96 and a 12 month high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $1,588,422,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 341.0% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,218 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 67.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,663,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.