Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Position Raised by Zions Bancorporation National Association UT

Zions Bancorporation National Association UT lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 84.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,137 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,815 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $410,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 7.5% in the second quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,391 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.5% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 / earnings & management guidance — AMAT beat Q4 consensus and management gave very strong forward commentary (CEO projected ~20% calendar?2026 sales growth and robust Q2 revenue guidance), which is the main driver behind the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades and target hikes — Several firms raised ratings/targets (Needham raised its target to $440; other outlets reported $420–$440 lifts and upgrades from Summit Insights and reiterations at B. Riley), signaling higher sell?side conviction and attracting buying interest. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: AI / memory cycle tailwinds — Analyst commentary and sector pieces highlight a near?$1T chip investment cycle driven by AI spending and defense/backlog demand; Applied benefits as a leading equipment supplier for logic and memory. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Memory opportunity thesis — Coverage highlighting AMAT as a plays?on?memory and AI capex (memory stocks seen as the “next big AI buying opportunity”) supports demand expectations for Applied’s tools and services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market action / sector split — Recent market pieces note AMAT among the chip names that gained while some peers lagged, reflecting stock?specific strength vs. broader semiconductor dispersion. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short?interest data appears anomalous — February short interest reports in the feed show zero shares / 0.0 days (likely a data glitch), so there’s no clear signal of rising short pressure from that item.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KGI Securities raised shares of Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Summit Insights raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Twenty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $361.03.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $354.91 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $376.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $296.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $238.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $281.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The company’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.