Zions Bancorporation National Association UT Increases Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 84.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,137 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,815 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after buying an additional 391,540 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,836,807,000 after acquiring an additional 407,282 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 13.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,635,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $361.03.

Key Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 / earnings & management guidance — AMAT beat Q4 consensus and management gave very strong forward commentary (CEO projected ~20% calendar‑2026 sales growth and robust Q2 revenue guidance), which is the main driver behind the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades and target hikes — Several firms raised ratings/targets (Needham raised its target to $440; other outlets reported $420–$440 lifts and upgrades from Summit Insights and reiterations at B. Riley), signaling higher sell‑side conviction and attracting buying interest. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: AI / memory cycle tailwinds — Analyst commentary and sector pieces highlight a near‑$1T chip investment cycle driven by AI spending and defense/backlog demand; Applied benefits as a leading equipment supplier for logic and memory. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Memory opportunity thesis — Coverage highlighting AMAT as a plays‑on‑memory and AI capex (memory stocks seen as the “next big AI buying opportunity”) supports demand expectations for Applied’s tools and services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market action / sector split — Recent market pieces note AMAT among the chip names that gained while some peers lagged, reflecting stock‑specific strength vs. broader semiconductor dispersion. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears anomalous — February short interest reports in the feed show zero shares / 0.0 days (likely a data glitch), so there’s no clear signal of rising short pressure from that item.

Applied Materials Trading Up 8.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $354.91 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $296.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.28. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $376.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $281.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.33, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The business’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.