Sanford C. Bernstein Cuts Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $210.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective trimmed by Sanford C. Bernstein from $220.00 to $210.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AMAT. Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup decreased 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 note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.48.

Applied Materials Stock Up 2.0 %

AMAT opened at $174.71 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors 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 yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% during 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 87.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $379,275,000 after purchasing an additional 877,133 shares in the last quarter. 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.