5,145 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Acquired by Mangrove Partners IM LLC

Key Points

• Mangrove Partners bought a new position of 5,145 shares in Applied Materials (~$1.05M) during Q3, part of a stock base where institutional investors own about 80.56%.
• Applied Materials announced a 15% quarterly dividend increase to $0.53 and will join the S&P 100 (effective March 23), moves likely to attract index and income-focused buying.
• Insiders have sold 12,003 shares (~$4.48M) in the last 90 days, even as the company reported a quarterly beat (EPS $2.38; revenue $7.01B) and set Q2 guidance of $2.44–$2.84 per share.

Mangrove Partners IM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,145 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,053,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total transaction of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $341.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $271.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.65. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $334.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $261.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $395.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.38 EPS. The business'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. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a boost from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 18.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price target on Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Applied Materials to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $363.46.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board-approved 15% increase to the quarterly cash dividend (from $0.46 to $0.53), marking nine consecutive years of raises — signals strong free-cash-flow generation and makes the stock more attractive to income and dividend-growth investors. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Planned addition to the S&P 100 (effective March 23) — likely to create incremental buying from index-tracking funds ahead of the effective date. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: New/strengthened customer R&D partnerships focused on AI memory (long-term R&D tie-up with SK hynix and collaboration with Micron on memory) — supports durable equipment demand for next‑gen DRAM/HBM and AI accelerators. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Broader market positioning toward semiconductors/AI: hedge funds and money managers are overweighting semiconductor-capital-equipment names (including AMAT) as AI capex remains a dominant 2026 trade theme. That institutional buying is supporting AMAT multiple and flows. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst attention and elevated price targets (median ~$415; multiple firms on “Buy/Overweight”) — helps underpin sentiment and provides buying interest on pullbacks. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Elevated retail and search interest reported by Zacks — signals attention but not directionally predictive by itself. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Takeover/industry M&A chatter (e.g., interest around BE Semiconductor Industries involving Lam and Applied) can boost sentiment but is speculative. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Macro risk: recent oil/ geopolitical-driven moves hit some chip names (Nvidia, Broadcom, Micron) — a spike in risk or higher energy prices can pressure tech cyclicals, including AMAT. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Notable insider sell activity and some institutional reallocations reported (large holders trimming in recent quarters) — could weigh on sentiment if selling persists. Article Title

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.