Short Interest in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Increases By 6.6%

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,710,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the October 15th total of 15,680,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 6,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Dbs Bank cut shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.81.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $773,611,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,218 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 67.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Down 9.2 %

AMAT stock opened at $168.88 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $139.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $190.88 and its 200 day moving average is $206.87. Applied Materials has a one year low of $141.94 and a one year high of $255.89.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.