Lbp Am Sa Purchases 117,257 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Lbp Am Sa lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 744.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 133,005 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 117,257 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $27,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,836,807,000 after buying an additional 407,282 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,635,992,000 after buying an additional 1,075,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $1,604,002,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokerages raised price targets and reiterated overweight/buy views — KeyBanc bumped its target to $380 citing DRAM-driven capacity growth and vertical scaling potential; Needham raised its target to $390. KeyBanc Raises Applied Materials (AMAT) Target to $380, Keeps Overweight Rating Needham & Company LLC Increases Applied Materials Price Target to $390.00
• Positive Sentiment: Shares reached an all?time high intraday, reflecting strong momentum and demand for semiconductor equipment exposure. Applied Materials stock hits all-time high at $332.31 USD
• Positive Sentiment: Applied’s display segment is rebounding: Zacks notes Q4 display revenue jumped ~68% with stronger OLED and advanced systems demand — a potential multi?year growth driver beyond chips. Can AMAT Lead the Display Market With Advanced OLED and AR/VR Push?
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 2026 earnings call set for Feb. 12 — investors will focus on revenue guidance, memory demand trends, and China exposure. Applied Materials fiscal Q1 2026 earnings conference call details (company IR)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage is broad and bullish overall (many Buy/Overweight ratings and a wide range of targets); median target noted in some aggregation is lower than the newest highs, highlighting dispersion in expectations. Applied Materials announces earnings call (QuiverQuant summary)
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation scrutiny after the rally — several write?ups flag that shares have run up strongly and investors should reassess forward multiples and upside. Applied Materials (AMAT) Valuation Check After Strong Recent Share Price Gains
• Negative Sentiment: China exposure and recent revenue softness remain a risk: AMAT’s revenue was down ~3.5% YoY in the last quarter, and some industry comparisons note China?facing headwinds that could limit near?term upside. Which Semiconductor Equipment Stock Has More Upside in 2026? (MarketBeat)
• Negative Sentiment: At least one retail?oriented column argues there’s a reason to sell vs. rotate into an alternative, highlighting the risk of buying late in a strong run. 1 Reason to Sell AMAT and 1 Stock to Buy Instead

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.2%

AMAT opened at $322.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $333.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $270.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $222.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AMAT. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $285.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Craig Hallum reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $285.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.75.

About Applied Materials

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.