ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Update

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,890,000 shares, a growth of 40.0% from the January 31st total of 1,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 901,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in ICL Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,689,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 591,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,513,000 after purchasing an additional 232,842 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 20,551,025 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,391,000 after purchasing an additional 3,606,357 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,335,527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,676,000 after purchasing an additional 120,169 shares during the last quarter. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut ICL Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays upgraded ICL Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on ICL Group from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

ICL Group Price Performance

Shares of ICL Group stock traded down $0.12 on Tuesday, hitting $5.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 922,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 975,895. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.56. ICL Group has a 1 year low of $3.79 and a 1 year high of $6.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.84. The company has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.23.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.08. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 5.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ICL Group will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.0403 per share. This is a positive change from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. ICL Group’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

About ICL Group

ICL Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty minerals and chemicals company worldwide. It operates in four segments: Industrial Products, Potash, Phosphate Solutions, and Growing Solutions. The Industrial Products segment produces bromine out of a solution that is a by-product of the potash production process, as well as bromine-based compounds; produces various grades of potash, salt, magnesium chloride, and magnesia products; and produces and markets phosphorous-based flame retardants and other phosphorus-based products.