Cinctive Capital Management LP Takes $3.51 Million Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cinctive Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 17,118 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,505,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 3,469 shares during the period. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $265,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 26,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Key Headlines 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 Price Performance

AMAT opened at $341.53 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $271.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $334.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $263.17. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

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

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.