Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Increases Dividend to $0.46 Per Share

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the manufacturing equipment provider on Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. This is a 15.0% increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Applied Materials has increased its dividend payment by an average of 17.4% annually over the last three years. Applied Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 15.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $10.07 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 15.9%.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.7 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $155.68 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $173.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.81. Applied Materials has a one year low of $149.55 and a one year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the business’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 value of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Applied Materials stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 28.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.38.

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.