27,507 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Bought by North Dakota State Investment Board

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 27,507 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,069,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $226,000. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $1,185,000. ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,019 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 100,197 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $25,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Finally, May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $532,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total transaction of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,778,624.78. This trade represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials News Roundup

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)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Summit Insights upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $480.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $463.89.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $436.62 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $346.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.00, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $379.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.06. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.47 and a twelve month high of $448.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 29.31% and a return on equity of 36.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.