Jennison Associates LLC Increases Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 185.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 292,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 190,056 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $99,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $77,383,000 after purchasing an additional 157,426 shares during the last quarter. 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: Erste Group Bank raised its FY2026 and FY2027 earnings estimates for Applied Materials and reiterated a Buy rating, signaling confidence in the company’s growth outlook and AI-driven demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials CEO comments reinforcing the AI investment thesis may help support longer-term sentiment around the stock. Article link
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks noted that AMAT has been drawing increased attention from investors, but the piece was mainly a stock-screening update rather than a new fundamental catalyst. Article link
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary suggested Applied Materials may be trading above fair value after a strong multi-year run, which could limit upside even if earnings remain solid. Article link
• Negative Sentiment: A broad semiconductor selloff is pressuring AMAT along with peers like AMD and Intel, as the market rotates out of chip stocks and into other areas. Article link

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright set a $850.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on Applied Materials from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Argus upped their price target on Applied Materials from $420.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $502.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $593.84.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 24,263 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.43, for a total transaction of $14,398,392.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 146,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,184,361.88. The trade was a 14.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.53, for a total value of $6,335,300.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 346,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,608,106.26. This represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 278,088 shares of company stock worth $169,654,805 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $529.66 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $154.46 and a 1-year high of $739.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $420.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $533.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $414.11.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

Applied Materials Company 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.