M&T Bank Corp Decreases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

M&T Bank Corp cut its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 283,863 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 11,179 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $58,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Dnca Finance purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter worth about $4,197,000. Sirios Capital Management L P bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $17,007,000. Analog Century Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $64,509,000. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 1,610 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mangrove Partners IM LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,053,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $341.53 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $334.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $261.80. The company has a market cap of $271.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $395.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. KGI Securities upgraded Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $350.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In related news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.