ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Stock Price Passes Above Fifty Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) crossed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5.46 and traded as high as $5.64. ICL Group shares last traded at $5.5950, with a volume of 1,442,829 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ICL. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ICL Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.23.

ICL Group Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.11.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 5.23%. Equities research analysts forecast that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were paid a $0.048 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICL. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in ICL Group by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,596,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,167,000 after purchasing an additional 169,866 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ICL Group by 6,275.3% in the third quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 354,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,204,000 after buying an additional 360,137 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in ICL Group by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,544,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,829,000 after buying an additional 405,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in ICL Group by 119.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 253,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 138,135 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Established in its current form through the consolidation of Israeli government–owned chemical operations, ICL has evolved into a publicly traded entity on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ICL). The company’s origins date back to state-driven mineral extraction in the Negev and the Dead Sea region, and over the decades it has grown through strategic acquisitions, technological innovation and a gradual privatization process completed in the early 2010s.

ICL’s core operations are organized into three principal business areas.