Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 47,200 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the April 15th total of 56,100 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 29,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Shares of NASDAQ ITRN opened at $23.33 on Wednesday. Ituran Location and Control has a 12-month low of $19.73 and a 12-month high of $29.85. The stock has a market cap of $547.56 million, a PE ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.83 and a 200 day moving average of $24.15.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 27.52%. The company had revenue of $70.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ituran Location and Control will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 23rd were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 22nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.45%.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 307,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,111,000 after buying an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,837 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 4,502 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 340,338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,835,000 after purchasing an additional 60,222 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 88,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the period. 60.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ITRN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ituran Location and Control from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 2nd. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Ituran Location and Control from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 11th.

About Ituran Location and Control (Get Rating)

Ituran Location and Control Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides location-based telematics services and machine-to-machine telematics products. The company's Telematics services segment provides stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, which 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.

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