Bank of Nova Scotia Purchases 1,806 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 305,765 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,806 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $62,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 225.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,046,057,000 after acquiring an additional 10,305,182 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $1,604,002,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 617.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,869,170,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856,576 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $1,409,320,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories 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 Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $341.53 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $395.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $334.48 and a 200 day moving average of $263.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $271.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The business had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. The company’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. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.46.

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.