Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 20th

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th.

Applied Materials has increased its dividend by an average of 17.4% per year over the last three years. Applied Materials has a payout ratio of 15.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $10.16 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 15.7%.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $169.20 on Tuesday. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $175.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.10.

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.