Investment analysts at StockNews.com have recently initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), a manufacturing equipment provider. In a report issued on Thursday, the brokerage has set a “buy” rating on the company’s stock. Applied Materials last released its quarterly earnings report on February 16th, revealing that the company had beaten analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 with $2.03 earnings per share (EPS). The manufacturing equipment provider recorded $6.74 billion during the quarter, up from analysts’ estimated revenue of $6.66 billion.
Interestingly, several hedge funds and institutional investors have been modifying their positions in AMAT over recent months; with 75.22% of the company’s stock owned by these groups, such activity is drawing attention to the potential gains available with investment in AMAT. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during Q4 2020 worth approximately $25,000 while Steward Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares by 173.9% – raising their holding value to $30,000.
Moreover, Applied Materials declared early this year that it intended to initiate a stock buyback program allowing for the repurchase of up to $10 billion in outstanding shares; such programs are usually taken as an indication that a company believes its shares are undervalued.
Overall, investment insights suggest that buying Applied Materials shares might present an opportunity where positives outweigh negatives when making comparisons between risks and potential returns since current estimates project EPS at around 7.01 for this fiscal year- something worth considering for potential investors seeking high degrees of perplexity and bustiness within stocks they might want to invest into.
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Applied Materials Receives Multiple Buy Ratings from Analysts in Semiconductor and Display Manufacturing Equipment Market
Applied Materials Receives Buy Ratings from Analysts
Applied Materials, a market leader in semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment, has received multiple buy ratings from research analysts. Recently, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed its buy rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in its report on Wednesday, March 1st.
The Goldman Sachs Group also lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a buy rating on Friday, February 17th. However, Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $279.00 to $271.00 in its research note on Friday, February 24th.
Moreover, Barclays lowered shares of Applied Materials from equal weight to underweight but boosted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report filed on Monday, January 23rd.
Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $126.00 to $139.00 in a research report filed on Friday, February 17th.
Currently, one investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating while six have given hold ratings and twenty-one have issued buy ratings to the stock.
Based on data obtained from Bloomberg, Applied Materials currently holds a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.31.
Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $125.70 on Thursday and the company has shown steady growth over time with a 1-year high of $126.30 and 1-year low rate of $71.12 respectively.
Furthermore, Applied Materials’ debt-to-equity ratio stands at 0.41 with a current ratio of 2.31 and quick ratio comes at 1.47 for better value propositions for investors according to reports from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).
In other news, senior vice presidents, Teri A. Little and Omkaram Nalamasu have both sold off a combined 36,257 shares in separate transactions between February and March of 2017.
With this positive rating from top analysts and continued growth trend by Applied Materials, the company is poised to build on its strong value proposition for investors while maintaining excellence as one of the lead manufacturers in semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment globally.
