Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 on December 12th

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 12th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the manufacturing equipment provider on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st.

Applied Materials has raised its dividend by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years. Applied Materials has a payout ratio of 16.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $9.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.6%.

Applied Materials Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of AMAT traded up $5.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $188.47. The stock had a trading volume of 4,851,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,087,090. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $155.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $129.21 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm 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 posted $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upgraded Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.68.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total transaction of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,639,630.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.