Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Has $61.15 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 298,693 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 30,791 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $61,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $55,180,000 after buying an additional 17,397 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,101,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,057,000 after buying an additional 145,050 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 13,360.6% in the 2nd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $127,129,000 after acquiring an additional 689,272 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in Applied Materials by 21.8% during the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 96,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $19,801,000 after acquiring an additional 17,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan lifted its position in Applied Materials by 82.2% during the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 26,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,512,000 after acquiring an additional 12,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied approved a 15% increase in its quarterly dividend (now $0.53/share), extending nine consecutive years of dividend growth — a shareholder‑friendly move that signals management confidence in the AI/memory and logic tool cycle. Applied Materials Lifts Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Applied announced a collaboration with Synopsys and NVIDIA to speed quantum chemistry/materials simulations for semiconductor R&D (up to ~30x faster), which can shorten development cycles for advanced materials used in next‑gen chips — reinforcing AMAT’s software+equipment value proposition to chipmakers investing for AI. Applied Materials Ties Quantum Simulations
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple bullish writeups and portfolio moves (Seeking Alpha features, InvestorPlace thematic piece on AI bottlenecks, and coverage noting interest from investors like Ken Fisher) amplify positive sentiment that AMAT will benefit from increased capex in AI chips and memory. Applied Materials: The AI Gold Rush Everyone Is Missing
• Positive Sentiment: Industry news: Belgium’s imec secured a rare ASML High‑NA EUV tool to develop next‑gen chips. While this is an ASML story, it underscores accelerating investment in advanced node tooling and materials — a demand tailwind for semiconductor equipment suppliers like AMAT. Belgium’s imec secures rare ASML High NA EUV tool
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent quarterly results beat EPS and revenue estimates but showed slight year‑over‑year revenue decline; management set Q2 guidance of $2.44–$2.84. These keep the fundamental story intact but don’t eliminate cyclical risk. MarketBeat AMAT summary
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest notices in recent filings show 0 shares / 0 days-to-cover — likely a data or reporting anomaly rather than meaningful short activity; treat these figures with caution. (Data entries dated March 17–18.)
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has posted a very strong run (reported ~86% in six months), which raises the risk of near‑term profit taking and increases sensitivity to any execution/guidance disappointments or macro slowdowns given a relatively elevated P/E. 3 Reasons Investors Watch Applied Materials

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AMAT. DZ Bank raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Zacks Research raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Summit Insights raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of AMAT opened at $349.47 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $395.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $337.99 and its 200-day moving average is $266.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $277.34 billion, a PE ratio of 35.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total transaction of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,322.19. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.