Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 21st

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 12th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the manufacturing equipment provider on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st.

Applied Materials has increased its dividend by an average of 11.9% per year over the last three years. Applied Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 16.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Applied Materials to earn $10.46 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 Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $170.73 on Tuesday. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $144.57 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $190.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $140.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.71% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.81.

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.