Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Short Interest Down 47.1% in March

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 83,600 shares, a decline of 47.1% from the February 28th total of 157,900 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 190,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ITRN. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the 4th quarter worth approximately $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter worth $137,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 214.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 4,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter valued at $178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ITRN traded down $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 34,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,123. Ituran Location and Control has a fifty-two week low of $24.12 and a fifty-two week high of $45.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $36.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.47. The company has a market capitalization of $725.04 million, a PE ratio of 13.97 and a beta of 1.10.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%. The firm had revenue of $82.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.81 million.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.49%. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is currently 73.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Ituran Location and Control Company Profile

Ituran Location and Control Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides location based telematics services and machine-to-machine telematics products. It operates through two segments, Telematics Services and Telematics Products. The Telematics services segment offers stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, which enables to locate, track, and recover stolen vehicles for its subscribers; fleet management services that enable corporate and individual customers to track and manage their vehicles in real time; and locator services that allow customers to protect valuable merchandise and equipment.