Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Holdings Trimmed by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC reduced its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 446,452 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 19,528 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned 0.06% of Applied Materials worth $91,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth approximately $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

More Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board-approved 15% increase to the quarterly cash dividend (from $0.46 to $0.53), marking nine consecutive years of raises — signals strong free-cash-flow generation and makes the stock more attractive to income and dividend-growth investors. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Planned addition to the S&P 100 (effective March 23) — likely to create incremental buying from index-tracking funds ahead of the effective date. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: New/strengthened customer R&D partnerships focused on AI memory (long-term R&D tie-up with SK hynix and collaboration with Micron on memory) — supports durable equipment demand for next‑gen DRAM/HBM and AI accelerators. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Broader market positioning toward semiconductors/AI: hedge funds and money managers are overweighting semiconductor-capital-equipment names (including AMAT) as AI capex remains a dominant 2026 trade theme. That institutional buying is supporting AMAT multiple and flows. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst attention and elevated price targets (median ~$415; multiple firms on “Buy/Overweight”) — helps underpin sentiment and provides buying interest on pullbacks. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Elevated retail and search interest reported by Zacks — signals attention but not directionally predictive by itself. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Takeover/industry M&A chatter (e.g., interest around BE Semiconductor Industries involving Lam and Applied) can boost sentiment but is speculative. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Macro risk: recent oil/ geopolitical-driven moves hit some chip names (Nvidia, Broadcom, Micron) — a spike in risk or higher energy prices can pressure tech cyclicals, including AMAT. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Notable insider sell activity and some institutional reallocations reported (large holders trimming in recent quarters) — could weigh on sentiment if selling persists. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total transaction of $1,496,392.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. This represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $341.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm has a market cap of $271.04 billion, a PE ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $334.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $262.48. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $395.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $315.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.46.

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.