PLDT Inc. (NYSE:PHI) Increases Dividend to $0.99 Per Share

PLDT Inc. (NYSE:PHI – Get Rating) announced a Semi-Annual dividend on Thursday, August 4th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.991 per share by the technology company on Tuesday, September 20th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 16th. This is a boost from PLDT’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.81.

PLDT has a payout ratio of 57.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect PLDT to earn $2.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.63 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.1%.

PLDT Trading Up 0.1 %

PHI traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.04. 48,353 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 77,844. PLDT has a one year low of $23.71 and a one year high of $39.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.47.

PLDT (NYSE:PHI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. PLDT had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 24.66%. The company had revenue of $972.87 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PLDT will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Bank of America upgraded shares of PLDT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PLDT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PHI. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PLDT by 4.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 718,032 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,232,000 after buying an additional 32,027 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of PLDT by 15.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 212,420 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,464,000 after buying an additional 28,564 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of PLDT by 303.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 36,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,278,000 after buying an additional 27,348 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in shares of PLDT in the first quarter worth about $457,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PLDT in the first quarter worth about $379,000. 2.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PLDT Company Profile

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PLDT Inc provides telecommunications and digital services in the Philippines. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Fixed Line, and Others. The company offers cellular mobile, Internet broadband distribution, operations support, software development, and satellite information and messaging services; and sells Wi-Fi access equipment.