Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Receives $129.33 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $129.33.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TheStreet upgraded Applied Materials from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 23rd. KGI Securities upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $132.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $88.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $122.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.65. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $71.12 and a twelve month high of $142.01.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 55.08% and a net margin of 24.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 13th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Disciplined Investments LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 53.2% during the third quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 337 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 55.0% during the third quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 372 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Emfo LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 256.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.22% of the company’s stock.

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.