Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Receives $218.71 Average Target Price from Analysts

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $218.00.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna increased their price target on Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 592.9% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $183.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $148.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day moving average of $175.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.04. Applied Materials has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

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.