South Shore Capital Advisors Acquires New Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

South Shore Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. KGI Securities upgraded Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an Overweight rating and raised its price target on AMAT from $470 to $500, increasing implied upside and signaling strong analyst conviction in Applied’s role in AI infrastructure spending. Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Applied Materials (AMAT)
• Positive Sentiment: Business press pieces name AMAT among top AI-related chip/infra winners (a “forget NVIDIA” theme), highlighting accelerating demand for AI fabs and equipment that benefits wafer-fab suppliers like Applied. This reinforces momentum and buy-side interest. Forget NVIDIA: 2 AI Stocks Poised to Be Next Big Winners
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks coverage and analyst-blog callouts are placing AMAT alongside other WFE (wafer fab equipment) names as direct beneficiaries of AI-driven capex, echoing the thesis that “pick-and-shovel” suppliers will see sustained order momentum. Forget NVIDIA: 2 AI Stocks Poised to Be Next Big Winners (Zacks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks also notes heightened investor attention on AMAT (pageview/interest-driven coverage), which can amplify short-term flows but doesn’t by itself change fundamentals. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader industry write-ups on Lam Research and ASML show strong WFE trends and peer strength; these validate the sector thesis that benefits AMAT but are not company-specific catalysts. AI Boom Aids LRCX’s Systems Revenue Growth: Can the Momentum Continue? ASML Holding Rises 23.1% YTD: Time to Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $352.62 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $395.95. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $279.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $347.78 and a 200-day moving average of $283.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. This represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.