Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.32

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 10th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share by the manufacturing equipment provider on Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26.

Applied Materials has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 6 consecutive years. Applied Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 19.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $6.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.1%.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $126.95 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $117.11 and a 200-day moving average of $111.48. Applied Materials has a 1-year low of $71.12 and a 1-year high of $132.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $107.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.60.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.16. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 54.45%. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,548,110.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $3,671,666.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 194,298 shares in the company, valued at $24,228,960.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $136.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $125.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas cut shares of Applied Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $133.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to buy up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.