Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:MGIC) Announces Dividend Increase – $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 paid 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 dividend payout ratio of 56.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 $0.65 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.7%.

Magic Software Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MGIC opened at $13.90 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.93. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $9.51 and a fifty-two week high of $14.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $682.48 million, a P/E ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 1.11.

Magic Software Enterprises (NASDAQ:MGIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The software maker reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $142.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $137.00 million. Magic Software Enterprises had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 6.49%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Magic Software Enterprises will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MGIC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Magic Software Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays lifted 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 note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Magic Software Enterprises from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note 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.