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

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 12th,Zacks Dividends reports. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st.

Applied Materials has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years. Applied Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 16.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $170.73 on Tuesday. Applied Materials has a 1 year low of $144.57 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $190.75 and a 200-day moving average of $206.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.71%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus 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.