Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by TheStreet in a research note issued on Tuesday.
The analysts wrote, “Applied Materials (AMAT) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a hold with a ratings score of C+ . The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in stock price during the past year, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and weak operating cash flow.”
A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on AMAT. Analysts at BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note to investors on Thursday, February 28th. They now have a $12.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, February 26th. Finally, analysts at Zacks reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note to investors on Friday, February 15th. They now have a $15.00 price target on the stock.
Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has issued an underweight rating, and one has given a sell rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “overweight” and a consensus price target of $14.56.
Shares of Applied Materials opened at 13.52 on Tuesday. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $9.95 and a 52 week high of $13.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $13.37. The company has a market cap of $16.225 billion and a P/E ratio of 643.81.
Applied Materials last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 28.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 guidance at $0.09-0.15 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Applied Materials will post $0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09.
Applied Materials, Inc. (Applied) provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the global semiconductor, flat panel display, solar photovoltaic (PV) and related industries.
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