ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Update

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) saw a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,590,000 shares, a decline of 22.8% from the December 31st total of 2,060,000 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 797,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ICL shares. StockNews.com upgraded ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays upgraded ICL Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st.

ICL Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ICL opened at $5.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.56. ICL Group has a 12-month low of $3.79 and a 12-month high of $6.18.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 5.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a $0.0133 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of ICL Group by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 11,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 2,985 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of ICL Group by 223.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 10,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 7,405 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of ICL Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICL Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

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.