Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Jefferies Financial Group

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $195.00 price target on the manufacturing equipment provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target suggests a potential upside of 35.22% from the company's current price.

AMAT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp raised Applied Materials from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Edward Jones raised shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $214.67.

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Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $0.86 on Friday, hitting $144.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,540,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,261,721. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $141.23 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $117.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $167.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.84.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $319,000. Fiduciary Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 14.6% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 6,797 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 87.7% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $379,275,000 after buying an additional 877,133 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.3% in the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 57,229 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $11,563,000 after buying an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centric Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 19,113 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $3,584,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.