Mizuho Increases Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $167.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Mizuho from $162.00 to $167.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.39% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. Craig Hallum increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $139.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.29.

Applied Materials Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $148.59 on Friday. Applied Materials has a 52-week low of $93.68 and a 52-week high of $157.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 2.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.14. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 24.27%. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 7.9 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total transaction of $150,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 106,023 shares in the company, valued at $15,907,690.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $140,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.2% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 167,868 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $23,241,000 after acquiring an additional 10,724 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 206.2% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 444 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Foundation Advisors lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 7.7% in the third quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 108,054 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,960,000 after acquiring an additional 7,680 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. It 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.