Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Lowered to $195.00 at Needham & Company LLC

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price decreased by Needham & Company LLC from $200.00 to $195.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 5.82% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on AMAT. Bank of America lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho cut their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.10.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $184.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $175.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.85. Applied Materials has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2,477.6% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 19,873 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,232,000 after buying an additional 19,102 shares during the period. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA lifted its position in Applied Materials by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA now owns 33,663 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,475,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 43.3% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 196,072 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,887,000 after purchasing an additional 59,232 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 252,050 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,991,000 after purchasing an additional 1,858 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 109.1% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 513,567 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $83,521,000 after purchasing an additional 268,004 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

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.