Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Up 2.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report)'s share price shot 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. 1,736,582 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $946,580. This represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 16,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,603,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,530 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 926 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $833,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 201.3% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market cap of $158.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.69. The stock's 50-day moving average is $170.07 and its 200 day moving average is $164.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. 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.