Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Director Xun Chen Sells 377 Shares of Stock

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Xun Chen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Saturday, January 14th, Xun Chen purchased 56 shares of Applied Materials stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $161.44 per share, with a total value of $9,040.64.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.0 %

AMAT opened at $112.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.12 and a 12 month high of $145.16.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 17th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.44 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 56.62% and a net margin of 25.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 23rd will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 13.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMAT. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Applied Materials to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, November 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 18th. Loop Capital began coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.64.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Disciplined Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 53.2% in the third quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 337 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 372 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 113.1% during the 2nd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 341 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Emfo LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Applied Materials

(Get Rating)

Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.