Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Raised to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $195.00 price objective on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 32.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.67.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $147.68 on Friday. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $145.37 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $168.27 and its 200 day moving average is $177.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $119.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $340,895,000 after purchasing an additional 164,085 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 13,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 45,378 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,380,000 after buying an additional 16,851 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $339,000. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 170,100 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,663,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.