Short Interest in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Drops By 24.2%

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 33,600 shares, a decrease of 24.2% from the September 15th total of 44,300 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 77,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ITRN traded down $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $26.79. The stock had a trading volume of 76,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,435. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $27.16 and its 200 day moving average is $26.57. The company has a market capitalization of $532.96 million, a PE ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 1.14. Ituran Location and Control has a 12 month low of $24.01 and a 12 month high of $30.00.

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

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.82%. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.40%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ITRN. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth $875,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 21.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 483,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,884,000 after purchasing an additional 85,023 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its position in Ituran Location and Control by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 444,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,941,000 after purchasing an additional 33,593 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC raised its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 179,740 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,429,000 after buying an additional 33,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth $203,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

About Ituran Location and Control

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.