Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Cut to Neutral at Rothschild & Co Redburn

Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $200.00 price objective on the manufacturing equipment provider's stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AMAT. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $158.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $202.00.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AMAT traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $190.78. The stock had a trading volume of 6,576,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,087,972. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.47 and a 200 day moving average of $163.94. The company has a market cap of $153.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.69.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 22.38%.

Applied Materials announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of Applied Materials 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at $946,580. This trade 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 available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,588,422,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at about $1,085,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $445,056,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944,193 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 18,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,824,304 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,647,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $808,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.