SoftBank announced on Friday that its shareholders will receive an interim dividend of 22 yen per share.
News outlet Reuters indicated that the company reached the decision after it underwent a series of asset sales that stabilized its finances.
SoftBank Group Corp (TYO: 9984) has a market capitalization of around $131.64 billion. Its shares at the time of writing had a 52 week range of $12.20 and $34.54. Notably, during the coronavirus pandemic SoftBank shares rose approximately 56.45% year to date. In addition, they jumped approximately 10.56%, 15.02% in the past three months and one month respectively.
According to analyst ratings provided by MarketWatch, SoftBank shares received an average of buy rating from 12 Wall Street analysts. At the time of writing, they were trading around $33.70, stagnant in relation to Thursday’s close.
Earlier last month, Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) and SoftBank announced a definitive agreement under which the former would acquire Arm Limited from SBG and the SoftBank Vision Fund (together, “SoftBank”) in a transaction valued at $40 billion.
SoftBank Notable Fundamentals
With increased cash reserves, notable analysts raised their ratings to buy in October. Zacks Investment Research upgraded SoftBank shares from a hold rating to a buy rating. The firm presently has a $37.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. In its note to investors, Zacks analysts highlighted that SoftBank is engaged in providing telecommunication services that are essential especially during and after the pandemic. However, ValuEngine previously downgraded shares of SoftBank Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating earlier this month.
During its August quarterly earnings report, SoftBank reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter. Notably, the company reported revenue of $13.48 billion, with a net margin of 14.37% and a negative return on equity of 7.76%. With the company’s diversity in investments, future dividends might be guaranteed to its shareholders.
SoftBank has heavily invested in technology companies, the energy sector, and also financial companies, thus capable of cushioning its stocks from future market crises. Apparently, SoftBank has been involved in a venture capital with a $100 billion vision fund. The fund is meant to capture emerging technology companies especially in artificial intelligence and also the internet of things.
At the beginning of this month, Rajeev Misra, the CEO of SoftBank’s Vision Fund, indicated there are plans to launch Vision Fund 2’s own special-acquisition company. Moreover, the Vision Fund 2 will focus on tech investments especially in artificial intelligence-based technology.