Quantitative Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Key Points

• Quantitative Investment Management LLC opened a new position in Applied Materials (AMAT) of 68,028 shares (~$13.93M)
• Applied Materials beat quarterly EPS (reported $2.38 vs. $2.21 est.) on $7.01B revenue, set Q2 2026 EPS guidance of $2.44–$2.84, and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target around $363.46.
• Institutional ownership is high (~80.56%), with several funds materially adding to positions (e.g., First Trust, Westfield), and recent AI memory partnerships have bolstered analyst and market optimism for AMAT.

Quantitative Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 68,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $13,928,000. Applied Materials comprises approximately 1.9% of Quantitative Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 17,397 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,101,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $635,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,050 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in Applied Materials by 13,360.6% in the 2nd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $127,129,000 after purchasing an additional 689,272 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 21.8% in the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 96,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $19,801,000 after purchasing an additional 17,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its position in Applied Materials by 82.2% during the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 26,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $5,512,000 after buying an additional 12,132 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $337.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $333.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $260.55. The company has a market cap of $267.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.65. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $395.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials's quarterly 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna upgraded Applied Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $363.46.

Trending Headlines about Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied announced partnerships with Micron and SK Hynix to develop next‑generation AI memory chips — a direct demand driver for AMAT's wafer‑fab equipment and services if customers scale production. Applied Materials and Micron Are Partnering on Memory
• Positive Sentiment: Market coverage has highlighted AMAT's AI exposure and momentum; reports note the stock reacted higher to the memory deals and analyst writeups emphasize resilience in the semiconductor rebound — supportive for investor sentiment and valuation. Applied Materials stock gains on AI memory deals
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/commentary pieces (Zacks, JPMorgan summaries) continue to call out Applied as a beneficiary of a semiconductor equipment rebound, reinforcing longer‑term earnings and margin expectations. Zacks Analyst Blog on Applied Materials
• Neutral Sentiment: Public short‑interest data shown in the feed appears anomalous (0 shares / NaN change) and gives no actionable signal about bearish positioning — treat as unreliable until clarified by official exchange short‑interest releases.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader chip stocks, including peers, slid amid higher oil prices and Middle East tensions that pushed risk‑off flows; macro/geopolitical volatility is pulling cyclical names like AMAT lower despite company‑level positives. Nvidia, Broadcom, Micron Fall as Oil Risk Sends Shockwaves Through Tech

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.

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.