HeidelbergCement raises Italcementi synergy target

* Company cut 1,870 jobs by end-2016 vs planned 500

* Proposes dividend of 1.60 eur/shr vs Rtrs poll avg 1.54 eur

* Trading update disappointed market last month (Adds details on guidance)

BERLIN, March 16 (Reuters) - Germany's HeidelbergCement (Amsterdam: HC6.AS - news) raised its target for cost savings from the acquisition of Italcementi (Hamburg: 1086183.HM - news) after cutting jobs almost four times as fast as planned in 2016 and proposed to raise its 2016 dividend by a better-than-expected 23 percent.

The maker of cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete, said it had cut 1,870 jobs by the end of 2016 versus the 500 originally planned, and raised its synergy target to 470 million euros ($504 million) from 400 million euros.

The proposed dividend of 1.60 euros per share is above the average estimate of 1.54 euros in a Reuters poll.

HeidelbergCement (IOB: 0MG2.IL - news) disappointed the market last month with a trading update in which it blamed bad weather and a weak Indonesian market for a 4 percent slide in fourth-quarter sales, and said it would now focus on raising prices.

On Thursday, the company forecast a moderate increase in 2017 revenue and pro forma result from current operations, as well as a significant rise in net profit before one-offs.

By moderate, HeidelbergCement means medium single-digit to low double-digit growth.

"We remain cautiously optimistic about 2017," Chief (Taiwan OTC: 3345.TWO - news) Executive Bernd Scheifele said in a statement. "HeidelbergCement will benefit from the good and stable economic development in the industrial countries."

These countries - the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, the northern European countries and Australia - generate 60 percent of HeidelbergCement's revenue.

($1 = 0.9323 euros) (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)