StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 16th, 2023

Equities researchers at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AMAT. Susquehanna Bancshares raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $80.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, November 18th. Cowen raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 18th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 18th. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, December 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.16.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.5 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $118.48 on Thursday. Applied Materials has a 1-year low of $71.12 and a 1-year high of $142.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.27.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.57% and a return on equity of 55.08%. The business had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total transaction of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. CFO4Life Group LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 7,651 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,053 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Pflug Koory LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 27,251 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,654,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,300 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.22% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.