Evercore ISI Initiates Coverage on Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Stock analysts at Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) in a research report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective points to a potential upside of 30.07% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AMAT. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Down 4.6 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $199.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $109.12 and a 52 week high of $214.91. The company has a market capitalization of $166.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.06.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,020,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,555,000 after purchasing an additional 54,261 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 92.3% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,180 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 8,981 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $315,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,215 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.