ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Up 27.0% in April

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 462,100 shares, an increase of 27.0% from the March 31st total of 363,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,060,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Shares of ICL Group stock opened at $11.39 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.58 and a 200 day moving average of $10.22. ICL Group has a fifty-two week low of $6.43 and a fifty-two week high of $12.96.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.09. ICL Group had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 18.52%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.05 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that ICL Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.1318 per share. This represents a $0.53 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 22nd. This is an increase from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is 66.67%.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. now owns 18,018,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $173,873,000 after purchasing an additional 923,308 shares during the last quarter. Yahav Achim Ve Achayot Provident Funds Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,075,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 160,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 14,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 92.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 20,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ICL Group in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of ICL Group from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.33.

About ICL Group (Get Rating)

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 Innovative Ag Solutions (IAS). 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.

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