Needham & Company LLC Lowers Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $225.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $240.00 to $225.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.97% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on AMAT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.90.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of AMAT opened at $186.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $190.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.13. Applied Materials has a 12 month low of $141.94 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a market capitalization of $153.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. PSI Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.