Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on AMAT. Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 18th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 18th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, October 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.64.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $1.17 on Tuesday, reaching $112.99. The company had a trading volume of 3,459,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,543,379. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Applied Materials has a one year low of $71.12 and a one year high of $145.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $105.04 and its 200 day moving average is $97.77.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 17th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.44 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 25.31% and a return on equity of 56.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 39,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Disciplined Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 53.2% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 337 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 113.1% during the 2nd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 341 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 372 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Emfo LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.