Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 1,990 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 183.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,073 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,990 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position 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 worth $2,747,000 after buying an additional 3,469 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 59.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $77,383,000 after buying an additional 157,426 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. UBS Group lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $480.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $440.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research lowered Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $454.00 to $502.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $415.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $463.89.

Key Stories Impacting 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

AMAT opened at $436.62 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.47 and a 12-month high of $448.45. The stock has a market cap of $346.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.00, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $379.09 and a 200-day moving average of $319.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.48% and a net margin of 29.31%.The company had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue 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, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.53 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.