California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,636,348 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 744,137 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $335,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $35,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. UBS Group set a $430.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. KGI Securities upgraded Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna raised 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 research note on Sunday, January 11th. Zacks Research raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Summit Insights upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% 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 business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about 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

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $341.53 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $271.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $395.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $334.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.48.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced 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 company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost 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 presently 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.