Applied Materials, Inc. provides manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. It 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. This segment also offers various technologies, including epitaxy, ion implantation, oxidation/nitridation, rapid thermal processing, physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, electrochemical deposition, atomic layer deposition, etching, and selective deposition and removal, as well as metrology and inspection tools. The Applied Global Services segment provides integrated solutions to optimize equipment and fab performance and productivity comprising spares, upgrades, services, remanufactured earlier generation equipment, and factory automation software for semiconductor, display, and other products. The Display and Adjacent Markets segment offers products for manufacturing liquid crystal displays; organic light-emitting diodes; and other display technologies for TVs, monitors, laptops, personal computers, electronic tablets, smart phones, and other consumer-oriented devices. The company operates in the United States, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Applied Materials, Inc. was incorporated in 1967 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Applied Materials Stock Down 7.6 %
NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $99.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Applied Materials has a 1-year low of $82.67 and a 1-year high of $167.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $99.11 and a 200-day moving average of $115.62. The company has a market cap of $86.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.51.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 19th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by ($0.04). Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.20% and a return on equity of 57.17%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 7.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Applied Materials Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 25th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 24th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.87%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
AMAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $172.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 20th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $145.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 16th. Cowen set a $160.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a report on Monday, June 20th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $135.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $146.04.
Insider Activity at Applied Materials
In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 15,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.30, for a total value of $1,294,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 93,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,040,484.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.