May Hill Capital LLC Makes New $532,000 Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

May Hill Capital LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,070 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $532,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.9% in the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 17,397 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,101,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,050 shares in the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 82.2% in the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 26,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,512,000 after purchasing an additional 12,132 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 21.8% in the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 96,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,801,000 after purchasing an additional 17,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,531,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Key Applied Materials News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials posted record Q2 results, beating EPS and revenue expectations and lifting its outlook, with management citing strong AI infrastructure spending as a key growth driver. Applied Materials Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street turned more bullish after the report, with multiple firms raising price targets, including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Needham, and KeyCorp, reinforcing confidence in multi-year earnings growth. Applied Materials Sees Multi-Year AI Boom Driving Record Revenue And Growth Through 2028
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts highlighted a durable AI-driven semiconductor upcycle, suggesting Applied Materials could sustain elevated demand and margins through 2027-2028. Krish Sankar Reaffirms Buy on Applied Materials
• Neutral Sentiment: The broader market backdrop is weaker, with major indexes down as Treasury yields and oil prices rise, which is adding headwinds for high-valuation tech and AI stocks. Stock Market Today: Dow Falls As Oil Prices, Yields Jump; Applied Materials, Nvidia, Cerebras Slide
• Negative Sentiment: Even with the strong earnings report, the stock is slipping as investors rotate out after a sharp year-to-date rally, showing some concern that expectations may already be very high. Applied Materials slips despite record quarter and strong outlook (AMAT)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Applied Materials from $454.00 to $502.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $415.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $463.89.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $436.62 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.47 and a 12 month high of $448.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $379.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $320.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $346.51 billion, a PE ratio of 41.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. The trade was a 12.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.