Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $260.00 price objective on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AMAT. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on Applied Materials from $222.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Applied Materials from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $233.14.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $210.94 on Friday. Applied Materials has a 1 year low of $129.21 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $222.16 and its 200-day moving average is $210.33. The company has a market capitalization of $174.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total transaction of $4,446,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,091,873.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total value of $2,325,559.55. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,639,630.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total transaction of $4,446,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at $24,091,873.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 25,931 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $247,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $143,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $801,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 58,852 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,888,000 after buying an additional 8,584 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.