TD Cowen Lowers Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $220.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price dropped by analysts at TD Cowen from $225.00 to $220.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 32.87% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Edward Jones upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.48.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $165.57 on Friday. Applied Materials has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $134.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $149.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.35.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total value of $65,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,131.91. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson purchased 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 972.2% during the 1st quarter. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 193 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 435.0% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 214 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% 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. 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.