ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Separately, Barclays lowered their price objective on ICL Group from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

ICL Group Stock Performance

NYSE ICL opened at $3.80 on Friday. ICL Group has a fifty-two week low of $3.80 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $4.24 and a 200-day moving average of $4.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 6.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that ICL Group will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.037 dividend. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew 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 valued at $62,766,000 after acquiring an additional 14,635,766 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ICL Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,042,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew 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 valued at $189,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360,670 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd. grew 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 valued at $73,813,000 after acquiring an additional 465,031 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in ICL Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,894,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,719,000 after acquiring an additional 419,241 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

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.