Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Barclays from $225.00 to $200.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the manufacturing equipment provider's stock. Barclays's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.44% from the stock's current price.

AMAT has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. KeyCorp raised shares of Applied Materials from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $217.41.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded up $5.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $191.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,446,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,089,978. Applied Materials has a one year low of $156.78 and a one year high of $255.89. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $173.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market cap of $155.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. True North Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,482 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 183,841 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $29,898,000 after buying an additional 57,263 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 16,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,603,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 12,286 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,998,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.