Bank of America Cuts Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $210.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective reduced by Bank of America from $220.00 to $210.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AMAT. Dbs Bank cut Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.81.

Applied Materials Stock Down 9.2 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $168.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $190.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $141.94 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a market capitalization of $139.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.71% and a net margin of 26.41%. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.52 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,994,968,000 after buying an additional 371,866 shares in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,311 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Savoie Capital LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 13.5% in the third quarter. Savoie Capital LLC now owns 87,695 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $17,719,000 after acquiring an additional 10,400 shares in the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $374,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 106.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 690,160 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $139,447,000 after purchasing an additional 355,926 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently 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.