Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

26 Jun 2026, 07:14 by Scott Moore · The Cerbat Gem

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 92,500 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,616,000. Applied Materials accounts for 0.6% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $176,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $888,000. First American Bank boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. First American Bank now owns 39,283 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,427,000 after buying an additional 1,836 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 2,143 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 7.0% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 6,654 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $599.77, for a total transaction of $5,547,872.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,559 shares in the company, valued at $24,326,071.43. The trade was a 18.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 356,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,204,069.76. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 199,767 shares of company stock worth $114,104,709 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $390.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $502.00 price target (up from $454.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.65.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Applied Materials

Applied Materials Trading Up 13.4%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $668.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $468.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.60. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $154.46 and a one year high of $669.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market cap of $530.37 billion, a PE ratio of 62.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a net margin of 29.31% and a return on equity of 36.97%. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 19.91%.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials unveiled new systems for DRAM and advanced packaging, including tools for higher-yield chip stacking and wafer metrology, strengthening its position in AI chip manufacturing. Applied Materials Introduces New Systems to Accelerate DRAM and Advanced Packaging for AI Chips
Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary has turned more upbeat, with Wells Fargo raising its price target sharply and other coverage pointing to continued strength in semiconductor equipment demand and AI infrastructure spending. Is Applied Materials (AMAT) the Best All-Time High Stock with Legs to Rally Further?
Positive Sentiment: Broader AI-chip optimism also helped sentiment across the sector, with Micron-led strength reinforcing the idea that memory and chip-equipment names could benefit from the next leg of AI spending. Micron Sparks Fresh AI Stock Rally
Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data showed no meaningful bearish positioning change, so this does not appear to be a driver of the stock move. Applied Materials stock information

About Applied Materials

(Free Report)

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.