Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $180.00 price objective on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.27% from the stock’s current price.

AMAT has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $165.00 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, August 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.78.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.4 %

AMAT stock opened at $154.81 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $140.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 1.59. Applied Materials has a 1-year low of $93.68 and a 1-year high of $157.76. The firm has a market cap of $129.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.15 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.27% and a return on equity of 49.29%. Applied Materials’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 7.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CFO Brice Hill sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total value of $150,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,023 shares in the company, valued at $15,907,690.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 5.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,020,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,555,000 after purchasing an additional 54,261 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 92.3% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,180 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 1,526 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Applied Materials by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 8,981 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,184,000 after buying an additional 1,604 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 12.6% in the first quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,215 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.24% 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. It 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.