Short Interest in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Grows By 30.7%

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 57,000 shares, a growth of 30.7% from the August 15th total of 43,600 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 67,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heron Bay Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 6.2% in the second quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management now owns 10,604 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 22,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 26,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $727,000 after buying an additional 1,669 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 16,585 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 1,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delphi Management Inc. MA lifted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 2.9% in the second quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 63,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,565,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

Ituran Location and Control stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Monday, reaching $27.46. The company had a trading volume of 50,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,765. The firm has a market capitalization of $546.29 million, a PE ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.71. Ituran Location and Control has a 1-year low of $24.01 and a 1-year high of $30.10.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $84.87 million for the quarter. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 28.43%.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.68%. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.40%.

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.