Citi Maintains Sell Rating on WHARF HOLDINGS , Dividend Yield Lowest Among Peers
I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.Citi maintains a Sell rating on Wharf Holdings, citing its low dividend yield of 1.9% (2.9% with special dividend), the lowest among peers. Despite HKD38 billion in deployable funds and plans for land acquisition, Citi argues investors prefer sustainable returns over one-off dividends. Consequently, the bank lowered its 2026 core earnings forecast by 1.5%, cut estimated NAV per share to HKD43.55, and reduced the target price from HKD21.15 to HKD19.6.
Citi published a research report stating that management of WHARF HOLDINGS (00004.HK) +0.220 (+1.072%) Short selling $14.49M; Ratio 20.237% clearly indicated during the results briefing its intention to use available cash to acquire land in Hong Kong. As of end-Jun this year, the group had net cash of HKD6.2 billion. After excluding the HKD2.4 billion net debt of Modern Terminals Limited and treating its HKD30 billion listed equity portfolio as quasi-cash, namely highly liquid assets, the group is expected to have more than HKD38 billion in actual deployable funds.
WHARF HOLDINGS declared an interim special dividend of HKD0.2 to celebrate the group's 140th anniversary. Management emphasized that the dividend policy remains unchanged and that it will continue to adhere to a value creation philosophy led by long-term asset quality. Citi noted that excluding the special dividend, the group's dividend yield was only 1.9%, and only 2.9% even after including it, the lowest among peers. In addition, investors tend to seek sustainable improvements in shareholder returns rather than one-off special dividends. Therefore, Citi maintained its Sell rating, lowered its 2026 core earnings forecast by 1.5%, and cut its estimated NAV per share by 7% to HKD43.55. The TP was lowered from HKD21.15 to HKD19.6, implying an approximately 55% discount to NAV per share. (gc/u)(HK stocks quote is delayed for at least 15 mins.Short Selling Data as at 2026-08-11 16:25.)