Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by Deutsche Bank AG

Deutsche Bank AG lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,424,473 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 115,566 shares during the period. Applied Materials comprises about 0.5% of Deutsche Bank AG’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Deutsche Bank AG owned 0.81% of Applied Materials worth $1,651,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,779,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $19,731,523,000 after buying an additional 330,197 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 40.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,563,376,000 after buying an additional 3,583,751 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $2,858,543,000. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 42.6% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 10,978,990 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,247,838,000 after buying an additional 3,280,730 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.53 per share, reinforcing its capital-return strategy and signaling confidence in cash generation. Applied Materials Announces Cash Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment remains upbeat on AI-related chip equipment demand, with recent commentary highlighting Applied Materials as a beneficiary of rising logic, DRAM, and advanced packaging spending. Applied Materials jumps 6.8% as AI-driven equipment demand and analyst optimism lift shares
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains constructive, with multiple firms maintaining buy or outperform ratings and several price targets sitting above the current trading range, which can help underpin the stock. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Eyes Growing Southeast Asia Workforce by 25%
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports of sharply higher short-interest activity appear data-distorted, but they still reflect ongoing attention from traders betting on semiconductor volatility.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader semiconductor sentiment is mixed: some commentary says the sector may be entering a correction after a strong run, while other notes call recent pullbacks healthy. Semiconductor Index Outlook: Upside Target Reached, Correction Underway
• Negative Sentiment: There is also some caution from insider-sale headlines and valuation-focused articles after AMAT’s strong multi-month run, which could limit upside if investors rotate out of high-multiple semiconductor names.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Applied Materials from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. KGI Securities raised Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $390.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $480.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on Applied Materials from $420.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.13.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $499.21 on Wednesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $154.46 and a twelve month high of $525.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $415.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $346.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $396.35 billion, a PE ratio of 46.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The company had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 19.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total value of $25,264,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 356,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,204,069.76. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 1,128 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $507,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,544 shares in the company, valued at $11,944,800. This represents a 4.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,896 shares of company stock worth $27,135,121 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.