Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Barclays from $190.00 to $160.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the manufacturing equipment provider's stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AMAT. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $202.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.86.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AMAT traded up $1.38 on Tuesday, reaching $151.55. 4,804,419 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,683,281. Applied Materials has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $149.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.57.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Applied Materials's payout ratio is presently 24.05%.

Applied Materials declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,716,058 shares in the company, valued at $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,039,667 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $12,528,961,000 after acquiring an additional 487,358 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,079,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $3,260,178,000 after purchasing an additional 253,078 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Applied Materials by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,663,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602,645 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $1,588,422,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Applied Materials by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,338,520 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,356,094,000 after buying an additional 587,036 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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.