Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Cut to $210.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Bank of America from $220.00 to $210.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 12.90% from the stock’s previous close.

AMAT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Dbs Bank lowered Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. B. Riley lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.81.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $186.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials has a 12-month low of $141.94 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $153.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $190.88 and a 200 day moving average of $207.13.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.