Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the manufacturing equipment provider on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%.

Applied Materials has increased its dividend by an average of 11.9% per year over the last three years. Applied Materials has a payout ratio of 16.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $10.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.3%.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $169.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Applied Materials has a 1 year low of $148.05 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $182.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $201.56. The company has a market cap of $139.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.52.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.29.

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.