B. Riley Boosts Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $300.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price target raised by analysts at B. Riley from $255.00 to $300.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. B. Riley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.05% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $222.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.84.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $247.83 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $205.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.80. The business’s fifty day moving average is $213.82 and its 200 day moving average is $191.68. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $249.42.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total transaction of $554,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 76,212 shares in the company, valued at $16,890,103.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total transaction of $554,050.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,890,103.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $1,597,650.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 78,712 shares in the company, valued at $16,767,230.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $6,598,500 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after acquiring an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,566,418,000 after acquiring an additional 682,098 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,226,581,000 after acquiring an additional 224,296 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,322,280,000 after acquiring an additional 360,002 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,383,848,000 after acquiring an additional 570,080 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.