ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Sees Strong Trading Volume

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 487,965 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the previous session’s volume of 748,072 shares.The stock last traded at $3.90 and had previously closed at $3.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of ICL Group from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

ICL Group Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.27 and a 200-day moving average of $4.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.23.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 6.08%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ICL Group Ltd will post 0.36 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.037 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ICL. Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in ICL Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $147,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of ICL Group by 6.3% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 526,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,281,000 after purchasing an additional 31,350 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in ICL Group in the second quarter valued at about $56,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in ICL Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 322,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 15,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in ICL Group by 3.2% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 44,119,257 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $189,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,670 shares during the period. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.