ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Up 5.2% in March

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,610,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the February 29th total of 1,530,000 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 894,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ICL. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in ICL Group by 1,091.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,002 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ICL Group by 82.4% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 3,460 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICL Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group in the second quarter worth approximately $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Price Performance

NYSE ICL opened at $5.20 on Wednesday. ICL Group has a 52-week low of $4.30 and a 52-week high of $6.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.05. The stock has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19, a PEG ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.22.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 12.04% and a net margin of 8.65%. Analysts anticipate that ICL Group will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.0476 per share. This is an increase from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ICL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of ICL Group from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet downgraded shares of ICL Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ICL Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

ICL Group Company Profile

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.