Short Interest in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Expands By 45.9%

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 56,600 shares, an increase of 45.9% from the October 15th total of 38,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 71,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ITRN traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $26.75. The stock had a trading volume of 76,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,356. The company has a market capitalization of $532.06 million, a PE ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.69. Ituran Location and Control has a 1 year low of $24.12 and a 1 year high of $30.00.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.43% and a net margin of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $84.87 million for the quarter.

Ituran Location and Control Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.83%. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is 61.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 132.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter worth approximately $137,000. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 145.0% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 20,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 11,927 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter worth approximately $767,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 184.5% during the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 27,498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $730,000 after buying an additional 17,834 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.