Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC Decreases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 225.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,046,057,000 after buying an additional 10,305,182 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,563,376,000 after buying an additional 3,583,751 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 10,978,990 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,247,838,000 after buying an additional 3,280,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Company presentation and AI strategy — Applied reiterated a strategic push into AI-related equipment demand at the Cantor Fitzgerald conference, reinforcing expectations that AI server and chip buildouts will support equipment orders and long-term growth for AMAT. What’s Behind Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT)’s AI Push
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile industry visibility — Applied executives are speaking at CERAWeek alongside major cloud and chip industry leaders, which boosts investor access, narrative control, and potential customer/partner signaling. This kind of exposure can support multiple catalysts (orders, partnerships, sentiment). Leaders and Experts … Headline Technology and Innovation Programming at CERAWeek
• Positive Sentiment: Fund flows and ETF positioning — Active ETFs and dividend-focused funds have been attracting inflows; AMAT appears in some actively managed dividend/value ETF baskets, which can create steady buying pressure from portfolio managers rebalancing into favored names. Active ETFs Surge Past Passive, and These Are in the Lead
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend-boosters roundup — A consumer-facing article highlights large dividend increases across several sectors (semiconductors among them). It does not confirm an AMAT dividend hike, so impact on AMAT is unclear. Income Boosters: 3 Stocks Raising Their Dividends by 15% to 33%
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest report anomaly — A March short-interest entry shows zero shares reported (likely a data anomaly or reporting lag), so there’s no clear short-squeeze or bearish short-pressure signal from this report today.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical risk — Rising oil prices and equity futures weakness after geopolitical rhetoric (U.S.–Iran tensions) create a risk-off impulse that can weigh on cyclicals and tech/industrial capex sentiment in the near term, potentially offsetting some positive company news. Dow Jones Futures Fall, Oil Prices Rise After Trump Threats To ‘Obliterate’ Iran’s Power Plants

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $361.79 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $341.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.38. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $395.95. The company has a market capitalization of $287.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The company’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

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.