Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Lowered to $230.00 at TD Cowen

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price lowered by TD Cowen from $250.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.81.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $17.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $168.88. The company had a trading volume of 16,287,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,137,177. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials has a one year low of $141.94 and a one year high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $190.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.73.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The firm 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 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 8.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 17.98%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $773,611,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209,218 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 67.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $942,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 262.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $280,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

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.