Stifel Nicolaus Increases Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $150.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) had its price target increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $140.00 to $150.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, The Fly reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.16% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AMAT. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $88.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $126.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Applied Materials has a 1 year low of $71.12 and a 1 year high of $132.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $117.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 13th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 9.7% 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, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 is available through this hyperlink. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,228,960.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,799 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 271,087 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $33,298,000 after acquiring an additional 96,587 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 33,814 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,154,000 after purchasing an additional 10,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Council Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.