Optas LLC Lowers Position in ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL)

Optas LLC lessened its stake in ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) by 19.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,878 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in ICL Group were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ICL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ICL Group during the fourth quarter valued at $36,042,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in ICL Group by 507.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 922,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,105,000 after purchasing an additional 770,442 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in ICL Group during the fourth quarter valued at $2,565,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ICL Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,894,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,719,000 after purchasing an additional 419,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in ICL Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 43,077,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $215,923,000 after purchasing an additional 250,673 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Price Performance

ICL Group stock opened at $4.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.64 and its 200 day moving average is $4.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. ICL Group Ltd has a 52-week low of $4.26 and a 52-week high of $6.73.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. ICL Group had a net margin of 6.68% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that ICL Group Ltd will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.0457 per share. This represents a $0.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.65%.

About ICL Group

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.