** Shares of Applied Materials AMAT.O rise 1.5% to $342.25 after the engineering company announced it has increased its quarterly cash dividend by 15%

** AMAT on track to gain ~6% this week, snapping two straight weeks of losses

** The dividend increase to 53 cents from 46 cents has been approved by AMAT's board of directors and is payable on June 11 to shareholders of record as of May 21. It also marks nine consecutive years of dividend increases, the company said in a statement

** 37 analysts cover AMAT, giving it an average rating of "buy" and median PT of $425, per data compiled by LSEG

** AMAT is up 33.4% YTD vs NASDAQ Composite Index's .IXIC 4.7% decrease

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York)

((Email: Chibuike.Oguh@thomsonreuters.com; Phone: +332-219-1834; Reuters Messaging: chibuike.oguh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))