Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price Up 2.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) were up 2.7% on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $215.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Applied Materials traded as high as $195.25 and last traded at $195.93. Approximately 1,736,582 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 7,403,228 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.78.

AMAT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, May 16th. B. Riley cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.65.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $946,580. The trade was a 9.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth $1,588,422,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $1,085,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $445,056,000 after buying an additional 2,944,193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 18,402.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,824,304 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,647,430,000 after buying an additional 1,814,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $808,853,000 after buying an additional 1,691,428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.2%

The firm has a market cap of $156.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $170.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.06% and a return on equity of 40.15%. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

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.