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

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the target of a large growth in short interest during 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. Based on an average trading volume of 852,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ICL. StockNews.com raised shares of ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of ICL Group from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ICL. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in ICL Group by 3.2% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 44,119,257 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $189,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,670 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in ICL Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,286,822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $136,043,000 after purchasing an additional 392,805 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its position in ICL Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 17,215,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,813,000 after purchasing an additional 465,031 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in ICL Group by 2,927,153.2% during the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 14,636,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,766,000 after purchasing an additional 14,635,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in ICL Group during the third quarter worth about $11,967,000. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ICL Group Price Performance

ICL traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $4.50. 924,329 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 777,400. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.23. ICL Group has a 52-week low of $3.79 and a 52-week high of $5.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.34.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 8.31%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that ICL Group will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a $0.0133 dividend. This represents a $0.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

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.