Needham & Company LLC Lowers Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $195.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price lowered by Needham & Company LLC from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

AMAT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.10.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $169.20 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $175.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.50. The stock has a market cap of $137.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials has a 12-month low of $158.96 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 592.9% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Materials

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.