Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Down 0.2%

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s stock price fell 0.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $215.81 and last traded at $219.47. 1,182,975 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,791,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $219.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.64.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.1 %

The company has a market cap of $181.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $205.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.84.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $251,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 26,375 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,652,000 after buying an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $308,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 361,868 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $50,094,000 after buying an additional 20,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 14,638 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.