Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Raised to $202.00

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price target increased by Citigroup from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 17.44% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AMAT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $2.80 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.00. The company had a trading volume of 10,313,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,620,562. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.12. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $1,588,422,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 341.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,663,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after buying an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.