ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Price Target Cut to $6.00 by Analysts at Barclays

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $7.00 to $6.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

ICL has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ICL Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ICL Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

ICL Group Price Performance

Shares of ICL Group stock opened at $5.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $5.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.46. ICL Group has a one year low of $4.76 and a one year high of $6.97.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 3.52%. Equities analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a $0.0535 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. This is a positive change from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. ICL Group’s payout ratio is 80.00%.

Institutional Trading of ICL Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ICL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in ICL Group by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 19,616,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,349,000 after buying an additional 877,644 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in shares of ICL Group by 12.8% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 22,040,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,812,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,702 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ICL Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,066,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $167,132,000 after acquiring an additional 382,780 shares during the period. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD increased its position in shares of ICL Group by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD now owns 2,084,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,960,000 after acquiring an additional 502,628 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of ICL Group by 27.6% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,856,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,615,000 after acquiring an additional 617,801 shares in the last quarter. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ICL Group

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.