Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Reaches New 12-Month High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $45.24 and last traded at $42.70, with a volume of 118622 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.17.

The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 28.31%.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ITRN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 63.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter worth about $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the 3rd quarter valued at about $137,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 214.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $846.61 million, a P/E ratio of 16.37 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.79.

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.