Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Given New $210.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) had its price objective decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $220.00 to $210.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the manufacturing equipment provider's stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AMAT. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $220.29.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $0.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $173.02. 6,056,387 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,187,091. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.52. The business's fifty day moving average is $186.55 and its 200 day moving average is $203.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Applied Materials's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Lantz Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $212,000. Fermata Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $379,000. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 8.2% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 158,336 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $37,366,000 after buying an additional 11,952 shares during the period. Dnca Finance purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,027,000. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,029,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently 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.