Applied Materials’ (AMAT) Underweight Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their underweight rating on shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $164.00 target price on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $179.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AMAT. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.76.

Applied Materials Trading Down 5.0 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $172.03 on Thursday. Applied Materials has a 12-month low of $144.57 and a 12-month high of $255.89. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $186.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.52.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Lantz Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $212,000. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.7% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 4,710 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 13.3% during the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,591 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,083,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,773 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during 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.