ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ICL Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.10.

ICL Group Stock Down 2.2%

ICL stock opened at $6.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.71. ICL Group has a 1-year low of $4.76 and a 1-year high of $7.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13 and a beta of 0.86.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. ICL Group had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Research analysts predict that ICL Group will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.0535 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. This is an increase from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in ICL Group by 19.6% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 942,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,865,000 after purchasing an additional 154,459 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in ICL Group by 19.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,174,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,082,000 after purchasing an additional 191,902 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the first quarter worth about $54,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in ICL Group by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,335 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in ICL Group by 21.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 177,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 31,835 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Established in its current form through the consolidation of Israeli government–owned chemical operations, ICL has evolved into a publicly traded entity on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ICL). The company’s origins date back to state-driven mineral extraction in the Negev and the Dead Sea region, and over the decades it has grown through strategic acquisitions, technological innovation and a gradual privatization process completed in the early 2010s.

ICL’s core operations are organized into three principal business areas.