ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Separately, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of ICL Group from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th.

ICL Group Price Performance

NYSE:ICL opened at $4.41 on Tuesday. ICL Group has a 52 week low of $3.79 and a 52 week high of $5.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $4.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.35.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 5.83%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.0133 per share. This represents a $0.05 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. ICL Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Institutional Trading of ICL Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in ICL Group by 3.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,360,670 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group during the third quarter worth $11,967,000. 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.