Judy Bruner Sells 3,969 Shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the sale, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. The trade was a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Applied Materials Trading Up 4.5%

Shares of AMAT opened at $395.04 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $395.95. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $312.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.33. The stock has a market cap of $313.50 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,779,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $19,731,523,000 after purchasing an additional 330,197 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.0% during 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 boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 119.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $8,405,458,000 after buying an additional 17,829,377 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,836,807,000 after buying an additional 407,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly beat, stronger outlook and product roadmap — AMAT reported Q1 results above expectations, issued solid Q2 guidance and flagged new transistor/materials engineering systems aimed at 2nm-and-beyond chips; management also announced a ~$252.5M export deal that supports near-term revenue visibility. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher targets — Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $432 with an “overweight” rating (higher upside vs. the current level), adding to a wave of bullish target increases from other brokers that lift sentiment. Article
• Positive Sentiment: AI/HBM-driven demand and positioning — Coverage highlights AMAT’s central role in tools for deposition/film and advanced packaging as AI and HBM demand sustain bookings and backlog visibility, underpinning margins and long-term growth expectations. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Operational/PR wins — Applied recognized supplier partners with Supplier Excellence Awards (positive for supply chain resilience but unlikely to move near-term revenue materially). Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Market risk-on environment — Semicon-equipment names got a lift from a broader risk-on session (S&P/Nasdaq strength) that amplified AMAT’s earnings-driven rally. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest note is ambiguous — A recent short-interest entry shows zero/NaN values and no meaningful short-days cover signal; it isn’t providing a clear opposite pressure to the rally. (Data entry appears unreliable.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Recent Form 4 filings show CAO Adam Sanders and Director Judy Bruner sold shares (reducing holdings ~10–12%), which can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if the sales may be routine diversification. CAO Adam Sanders Form 4 Director Judy Bruner Form 4

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Susquehanna raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.