Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) PT Raised to $160.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $136.00 to $160.00 in a research report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 26.03% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AMAT. B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $279.00 to $271.00 in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $126.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $71.12 and a 52 week high of $132.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $117.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.16. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 54.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 13th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total transaction of $3,671,666.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 194,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,228,960.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $800,118.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $3,671,666.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 194,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,228,960.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 69,748,762 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $8,567,240,000 after buying an additional 520,503 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,434,684 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,720,928,000 after buying an additional 301,010 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,911,113 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,547,031,000 after buying an additional 211,646 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,263,246 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,194,195,000 after purchasing an additional 4,277,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,355,075 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,394,744,000 after purchasing an additional 366,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.22% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Materials

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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.