ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Stock Price Up 2.9% – Time to Buy?

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) rose 2.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $4.19 and last traded at $4.19. Approximately 294,658 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 768,890 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of ICL Group from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut ICL Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th.

ICL Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 1.22.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ICL Group Ltd will post 0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.037 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of ICL Group in the third quarter valued at $11,967,000. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. Greenleaf Trust purchased a new stake in ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $135,000. Glenorchy Capital Ltd grew its holdings in ICL Group by 60.4% in the 3rd quarter. Glenorchy Capital Ltd now owns 322,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after buying an additional 121,512 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of ICL Group by 99.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 40,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 20,250 shares during the last quarter. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.