ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

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

ICL Group Price Performance

ICL stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $4.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,129,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 780,595. The stock has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. ICL Group has a fifty-two week low of $3.79 and a fifty-two week high of $5.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $4.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.54.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. ICL Group had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.36 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in ICL Group by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 277,486 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after buying an additional 33,454 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICL Group in the 4th quarter valued at $403,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 1.7% in the 4th 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. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICL Group in the 4th quarter valued at $70,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 32,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,580 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

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.