Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Reduces Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,102,783 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 20,039 shares during the period. Applied Materials comprises approximately 1.4% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned approximately 0.14% of Applied Materials worth $225,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth $3,602,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $1,887,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 3.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 139,015 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $28,462,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Investment Management boosted its position in Applied Materials by 8.8% in the third quarter. Guardian Investment Management now owns 5,275 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $704,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines 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

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total transaction of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director owned 26,089 shares in the company, valued at $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Summit Insights raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $430.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $341.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $395.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $334.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $261.80. The company has a market capitalization of $271.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its 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. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

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.