Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $195.00 target price on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 11.59% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. B. Riley dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Edward Jones upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp raised Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $202.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.38.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $174.75 on Friday. Applied Materials has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.97 billion, a PE ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. This trade represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $137.30 per share, for a total transaction of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. This trade represents a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rheos Capital Works Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 170,100 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,663,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,055,000 after acquiring an additional 6,364 shares during the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in Applied Materials by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 31,404 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,107,000 after acquiring an additional 10,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 101.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 520,924 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $84,718,000 after purchasing an additional 262,689 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is 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.