Capital International Inc. CA Grows Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Capital International Inc. CA grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,995 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,761 shares during the quarter. Capital International Inc. CA’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $11,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 26.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 681.1% during the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 101,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,491,000 after purchasing an additional 88,073 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Sunday, January 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 26,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied announced a long-term R&D partnership with SK hynix to accelerate next‑generation DRAM and high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) development, with engineers working side‑by‑side at Applied’s EPIC Center to push materials, process integration and 3D packaging advances. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Applied and Micron launched a collaboration to develop next‑generation DRAM, HBM and NAND aimed at improving energy efficiency and performance for AI systems, leveraging Applied’s $5B EPIC Center and Micron’s R&D. This strengthens AMAT’s exposure to AI memory demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market coverage reacted positively to the Micron tie‑up (reports point to stock gains on the news), reinforcing investor view that Applied is central to the AI memory supply chain. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Erste Group initiated coverage of AMAT with a Hold rating — a neutral signal that may limit upside from some institutional desks. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the 2026 Cantor conference (transcript available), providing incremental investor detail but no major guidance change. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analyst writeups and media pieces reiterate long‑term AI tailwinds for AMAT; these help sentiment but don’t materially change fundamentals. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest figures in recent feeds show implausible “0 shares” data and a 0.0 days‑to‑cover ratio — likely a data error and not a real market pressure signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Despite solid Q1 free cash flow (~$1.04B), some coverage notes the stock has pulled back from recent highs — suggesting profit‑taking or positioning risk that could weigh on near‑term performance. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Filings show an elected official disposed of AMAT shares recently, which can create short‑term headlines and caution among some investors. Read More.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $345.88 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $329.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $259.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Applied Materials 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.