Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Raised to $202.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price target increased by Citigroup from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AMAT. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.38.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $176.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $143.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials has a 1-year low of $158.96 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.98.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 198,308 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,251,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $487,000. Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $288,000. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $2,789,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,435,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

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.