Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by Lbp Am Sa

Key Points

• Lbp Am Sa cut its stake in Applied Materials by 81.5% in Q4, selling 108,343 shares and leaving 24,662 shares valued at $6.338 million.
• Analysts turned more bullish—TD Cowen lifted its target to $450, B. Riley to $485 and Mizuho to $410—leaving a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with an average target of $368.29.
• Fundamentals and catalysts: AMAT beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, unveiled new chipmaking tools aimed at 2nm AI/HPC nodes, set Q2 guidance of 2.440–2.840 EPS, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.53.

Lbp Am Sa lessened its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 81.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,662 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 108,343 shares during the quarter. Lbp Am Sa's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% during the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Erste Group Bank raised Applied Materials to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Applied Materials from $315.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.29.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of Applied Materials 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 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. This trade represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: New product catalysts — AMAT unveiled two chipmaking systems aimed at 2nm AI and HPC nodes (Precision Selective Nitride PECVD and Trillium ALD), which support stronger exposure to AI/HPC demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness — B. Riley raised its price target to $485 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing a multi-year upside from AI-related investment cycles. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Industry demand signals — TSMC’s upbeat outlook and broader DRAM/data-center coverage stories support secular demand for wafer-fab equipment suppliers like AMAT. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Potential new customer outreach — Bloomberg/Yahoo report Elon Musk’s Terafab team has contacted equipment suppliers including Applied Materials for quotes; this signals possible future demand but timing and scale are uncertain. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Momentum coverage — Zacks notes AMAT was up ~14.6% over one week, making it a momentum candidate; that rapid move can attract both buyers and near-term profit-takers. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Peer/valuation context — ASML’s narrowing premium vs. U.S. peers and other sector pieces provide background on relative valuations but don’t directly change AMAT’s fundamentals today. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Relative investment preference for NVIDIA — a Zacks comparison argues NVIDIA is the better buy now due to stronger data-center dominance and valuation, which could divert investor flows away from AMAT despite AMAT’s exposure to AI. Article Title

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $389.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $309.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.91, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $358.40 and a 200-day moving average of $293.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.80 and a 1-year high of $407.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. 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. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.70%.

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.

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