Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Cut to $250.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $270.00 to $250.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 34.63% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on AMAT. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.24.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $2.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $185.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,491,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,040,372. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.42. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $141.94 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $153.08 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter worth $773,611,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,259,111 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% in 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 buying an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first 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 period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.