StockNews.com Lowers Magic Software Enterprises (NASDAQ:MGIC) to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Magic Software Enterprises (NASDAQ:MGIC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Barclays increased their price target on Magic Software Enterprises from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th.

Magic Software Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of MGIC opened at $11.02 on Thursday. Magic Software Enterprises has a 12-month low of $8.15 and a 12-month high of $13.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $10.82 and its 200 day moving average is $10.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $541.08 million, a P/E ratio of 15.10 and a beta of 1.06.

Magic Software Enterprises (NASDAQ:MGIC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The software maker reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.02. Magic Software Enterprises had a return on equity of 16.36% and a net margin of 6.83%. The company had revenue of $130.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $126.80 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Magic Software Enterprises will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Magic Software Enterprises Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 27th were given a $0.204 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 27th. Magic Software Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently 56.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Magic Software Enterprises

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MGIC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Magic Software Enterprises by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 672,347 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,591,000 after purchasing an additional 76,000 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Magic Software Enterprises during the 4th quarter valued at $127,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Magic Software Enterprises by 61.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,942 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Magic Software Enterprises by 722.2% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 15,334 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 13,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Magic Software Enterprises during the 1st quarter valued at $593,000. 24.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Magic Software Enterprises

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. The company's Software Services segment develops, markets, sells, and supports application platform, software applications, and business and process integration solutions and related services.