Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 138,129 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,752 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $35,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $1,082,000. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,094 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $3,325,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 4,346 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in Applied Materials by 51.0% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 280,792 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,161,000 after purchasing an additional 94,779 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the 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 owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 three months, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. KGI Securities upgraded Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Seaport Research Partners assumed coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, May 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $463.89.

Trending Headlines about Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials posted record Q2 results, beating EPS and revenue expectations and lifting its outlook, with management citing strong AI infrastructure spending as a key growth driver. Applied Materials Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street turned more bullish after the report, with multiple firms raising price targets, including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Needham, and KeyCorp, reinforcing confidence in multi-year earnings growth. Applied Materials Sees Multi-Year AI Boom Driving Record Revenue And Growth Through 2028
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts highlighted a durable AI-driven semiconductor upcycle, suggesting Applied Materials could sustain elevated demand and margins through 2027-2028. Krish Sankar Reaffirms Buy on Applied Materials
• Neutral Sentiment: The broader market backdrop is weaker, with major indexes down as Treasury yields and oil prices rise, which is adding headwinds for high-valuation tech and AI stocks. Stock Market Today: Dow Falls As Oil Prices, Yields Jump; Applied Materials, Nvidia, Cerebras Slide
• Negative Sentiment: Even with the strong earnings report, the stock is slipping as investors rotate out after a sharp year-to-date rally, showing some concern that expectations may already be very high. Applied Materials slips despite record quarter and strong outlook (AMAT)

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $436.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $379.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.06. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.47 and a fifty-two week high of $448.45. The company has a market cap of $346.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.00, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The firm had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.28%.

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.