Applied Materials increases quarterly dividend to $0.32

Santa Clara – Applied Materials, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 23.1-percent increase in the quarterly cash dividend from $0.26 to $0.32 per share. The dividend is payable on June 15, 2023 to shareholders of record as of May 25, 2023.

The Board also approved a new share repurchase authorization enabling Applied to buyback an additional $10 billion of its shares over time. This supplements the previous authorization which had $4.7 billion remaining at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2023.

“The dividend increase, our largest in five years, and the new share repurchase authorization reflect our positive long-term view of the semiconductor market and our confidence in Applied’s outsized growth opportunities driven by our technology leadership, broad portfolio of differentiated products and strong customer engagements,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO.

Applied has a long history of returning free cash flow to shareholders. The company initiated its dividend program in 2005, and over the past 10 years, Applied has increased the quarterly dividend paid per share at an 11-percent compound annual growth rate and reduced the number of shares outstanding by nearly 30 percent.

Brice Hill, Senior Vice President and CFO, added, “As the market for semiconductors has grown and diversified – and our services business has become larger and more subscription-based – Applied’s revenue and profitability have become more predictable and resilient. Given these trends, we believe our free cash flow will continue to grow over time and can support increasing the dividend at an accelerated rate and doubling the previous dividend per share over the next several years.”