KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 3): Sunway Bhd's shares rose as much as 5% after the property and construction firm declared a special dividend of 26 sen a share.

Sunway Bhd (fundamental: 1.5; valuation: 2.4) said it would pay the dividend from proceeds raised from the offer for sale of 398.71 million Sunway Construction Group Bhd shares. Sunway Bhd said the ex-date for the dividend is this Sept 30, while payment will be made on Oct 16.

Today, Sunway Bhd shares rose to their highest so far today at RM3.55. At 10:22am, the shares were traded at RM3.49, for a market capitalisation of RM6.14 billion.

The stock saw 649,200 shares transacted.

At 10:50am, Sunway Bhd changed hands at RM3.48, to become the ninth-largest gainer across Bursa Malaysia.  

MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd said the research firm increased its target price (TP) for Sunway Bhd's shares to RM3.70, from RM3.66 previously. The upgrade came with an unchanged "neutral" call for the stock.

In a note today, MIDF said it would re-adjust its Sunway Bhd TP after the dividend entitlement date on Oct 2, to take into account the 26 sen dividend.

“After the entitlement date, our target price will be reduced to RM3.44. We maintain our neutral call, as we expect minimal catalysts going forward, after the entitlement date of the special dividend," MIDF said.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)