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.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Susquehanna Bancshares reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, May 20th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 20th. Cowen set a $160.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, June 20th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $135.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $146.04.
Applied Materials Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $108.49 on Wednesday. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $82.67 and a fifty-two week high of $167.06. The company's 50-day moving average is $98.35 and its 200 day moving average is $114.71. The company has a market capitalization of $94.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.29.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 19th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.89 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.35 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 57.17% and a net margin of 27.20%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.
Applied Materials Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 25th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 24th. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.87%.
Insider Activity at Applied Materials
In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 15,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 6th. The stock was 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 owns 93,169 shares in the company, valued at $8,040,484.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.