Dupont Capital Management Corp Cuts Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Key Points

• Dupont Capital Management cut its stake in Applied Materials by 26.4% in Q4, selling 13,301 shares and retaining 37,010 shares worth about $9.51 million.
• Analysts have grown bullish—multiple firms raised price targets to roughly $430–$450 and Zacks upgraded AMAT to a strong-buy, while the MarketBeat consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with a $368.29 target.
• Applied Materials beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.38 vs. $2.21; revenue $7.01B), provided Q2 FY2026 EPS guidance of 2.440–2.840, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.53 ($2.12 annualized).

Dupont Capital Management Corp decreased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 26.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,010 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 13,301 shares during the quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% in the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 48.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $350.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $430.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.29.

More 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 Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $389.90 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.80 and a 52 week high of $407.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.43 billion, a PE ratio of 39.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $358.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $293.32.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.70%.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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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