Hot Stocks High-dividend companies Nestle, BAT, Guinness among top gainers

by **Cals** Tue 25 Feb 2014, 17:24

Hot Stocks High-dividend companies Nestle, BAT, Guinness among top gainers

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Jonathan Gan of theedgemalaysia.com

Tuesday, 25 February 2014 15:43

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): High-dividend companies like Nestle Malaysia Bhd, British American Tobacco Bhd (BAT), Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB), Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd, and RHB Capital Bhd were among top gainers on the stock exchange today.

At about 2:50pm, Nestle rose 50 sen or 0.8% to RM66.50 while BAT climbed eight sen or 0.1% to RM60.08.

GAB increased 10 sen or 0.7% to RM15 while Syarikat Takaful rose 16 sen or 1.5% to RM10.96. RHB Cap added 16 sen or 2% to RM7.93.

Nestle plans to pay a quarterly dividend of RM1.75 per share while BAT intends to reward shareholders with a 78 sen a share payout.

GAB, Syarikat Takaful and RHB Capital plans to pay quarterly dividends of 20 sen, 30 sen and 10.3 sen per share respectively.

On Nestle, RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd said the firm kept its earnings forecast, and it maintained target price (TP) of RM67 for shares of the food and beverage firm.

This follows Nestle's latest financials which came in within market and RHB's forecast.

RHB analyst Ngo Siew Teng wrote in a note today the firm had also maintained its "neutral" call for Nestle shares. Ngo said the stock was traded at a forward price-earnings ratio (PER) of 26 times.

This is in line with Nestle's three-year average PER of 29 times, according to Ngo.

Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank has initiated a “hold” call for GAB shares with a TP of RM14.40. This comes on expectation of GAB's flat growth in the third quarter ending March 31, 2014.

Maybank analyst Kang Chun Ee said in a note : “GAB sees less growth for its premium beers as consumers go for cheaper or mainstream beers.

“The group’s operating margin will be under pressure if the situation persists amid the increase in living expenses,” he said.