Short Interest in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Decreases By 21.6%

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) was the target of a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,330,000 shares, a decline of 21.6% from the July 15th total of 15,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,920,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $210.00 in a report on Monday, May 13th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $223.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.56.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of AMAT traded down $3.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $207.90. 11,639,623 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,003,964. The company has a market cap of $172.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $129.21 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $222.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.11. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,091,873.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $1,597,650.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 78,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,767,230.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,566,418,000 after buying an additional 682,098 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,322,280,000 after acquiring an additional 360,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $1,514,814,000. 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.