ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Update

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,890,000 shares, an increase of 40.0% from the January 31st total of 1,350,000 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 901,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ICL shares. StockNews.com lowered ICL Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on ICL Group from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on ICL Group from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

ICL Group Price Performance

Shares of ICL Group stock traded up $0.22 on Wednesday, hitting $6.00. The company had a trading volume of 269,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 958,607. ICL Group has a 52 week low of $3.79 and a 52 week high of $6.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.84.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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. Research analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.0403 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a boost from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. 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.