Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:MGIC) Increases Dividend to $0.33 Per Share

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:MGIC) declared a semi-annual dividend on Monday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.327 per share by the software maker on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This is a 38.6% increase from Magic Software Enterprises’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.24.

Magic Software Enterprises has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.3% annually over the last three years. Magic Software Enterprises has a payout ratio of 44.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Magic Software Enterprises to earn $0.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.5%.

Magic Software Enterprises Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of MGIC stock traded up $0.33 on Monday, hitting $14.21. The stock had a trading volume of 123,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,780. Magic Software Enterprises has a 12-month low of $9.51 and a 12-month high of $14.25. The stock has a market cap of $697.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.65 and a 200 day moving average of $11.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76.

Magic Software Enterprises (NASDAQ:MGIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The software maker reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). Magic Software Enterprises had a net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $142.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $137.00 million. As a group, analysts expect that Magic Software Enterprises will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MGIC. StockNews.com raised Magic Software Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Magic Software Enterprises from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of Magic Software Enterprises from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Magic Software Enterprises Company Profile

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. provides proprietary application development, vertical software solutions, business process integration, information technologies (IT) outsourcing software services, and cloud-based services in Israel and internationally. Its Software Services segment develops, markets, sells, and supports application platform, software applications, and business and process integration solutions and related services.