Short Interest in ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Expands By 8.0%

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,080,000 shares, a growth of 8.0% from the October 15th total of 1,000,000 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 852,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ICL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its stake in ICL Group by 2,927,153.2% during the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 14,636,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,766,000 after purchasing an additional 14,635,766 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in ICL Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,967,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,689,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 44,119,257 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $189,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 17,215,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,813,000 after acquiring an additional 465,031 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE ICL traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $4.50. 924,329 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 777,400. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.34. ICL Group has a 12 month low of $3.79 and a 12 month high of $5.54.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 8.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.0133 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.05 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ICL shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of ICL Group from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

ICL Group Company Profile

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.