Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $250.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $270.00 to $250.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

AMAT has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.24.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock opened at $186.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $141.94 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.13. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.98%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $773,611,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 126.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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.