ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Up 8.0% in October

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

ICL Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ICL opened at $4.50 on Tuesday. ICL Group has a 1-year low of $3.79 and a 1-year high of $5.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4.12 and its 200-day moving average is $4.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of ICL Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in ICL Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,286,822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $136,043,000 after buying an additional 392,805 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,689,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in ICL Group by 2,927,153.2% in 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 buying an additional 14,635,766 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,967,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in ICL Group by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 21,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 4,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.