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

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $250.00 to $235.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price suggests a potential upside of 29.91% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on AMAT. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.00.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $180.89 on Tuesday. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $147.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 60.8% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 608 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 11,935 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,414,000 after buying an additional 2,175 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 344.7% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,945 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,232,000 after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 7,013 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.