Capital International Investors Decreases Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Capital International Investors decreased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,733,919 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,480 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $764,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position 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 valued at $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 407,282 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased 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 valued at $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased 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 valued at $1,635,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,604,002,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was 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 $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

More Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied announced a long-term R&D partnership with SK hynix to accelerate next?generation DRAM and high?bandwidth memory (HBM) development, with engineers working side?by?side at Applied’s EPIC Center to push materials, process integration and 3D packaging advances. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Applied and Micron launched a collaboration to develop next?generation DRAM, HBM and NAND aimed at improving energy efficiency and performance for AI systems, leveraging Applied’s $5B EPIC Center and Micron’s R&D. This strengthens AMAT’s exposure to AI memory demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market coverage reacted positively to the Micron tie?up (reports point to stock gains on the news), reinforcing investor view that Applied is central to the AI memory supply chain. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Erste Group initiated coverage of AMAT with a Hold rating — a neutral signal that may limit upside from some institutional desks. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the 2026 Cantor conference (transcript available), providing incremental investor detail but no major guidance change. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analyst writeups and media pieces reiterate long?term AI tailwinds for AMAT; these help sentiment but don’t materially change fundamentals. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short?interest figures in recent feeds show implausible “0 shares” data and a 0.0 days?to?cover ratio — likely a data error and not a real market pressure signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Despite solid Q1 free cash flow (~$1.04B), some coverage notes the stock has pulled back from recent highs — suggesting profit?taking or positioning risk that could weigh on near?term performance. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Filings show an elected official disposed of AMAT shares recently, which can create short?term headlines and caution among some investors. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.46.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $345.88 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $329.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $259.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $274.49 billion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.65. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $395.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

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.