Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading Down 2.2%

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) fell 2.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $190.91 and last traded at $192.48. 2,264,372 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 6,049,863 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $232.00.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $210.28. The company has a market cap of $158.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Applied Materials by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,566,418,000 after purchasing an additional 682,098 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 3.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,322,280,000 after purchasing an additional 360,002 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Applied Materials by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,854,099 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $948,762,000 after purchasing an additional 116,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.