Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.46 Per Share

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the manufacturing equipment provider on Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a 15.0% increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Applied Materials has raised its dividend by an average of 17.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 8 consecutive years. Applied Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 18.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $10.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.3%.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $165.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $134.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.71. Applied Materials has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $149.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.12.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total transaction of $65,173.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,077 shares in the company, valued at $880,131.91. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $235,614,763.40. This trade represents a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Applied Materials stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 28.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Edward Jones raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down previously from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.48.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.