Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $35.69 and last traded at $35.67, with a volume of 32582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.58.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $709.97 million, a PE ratio of 13.66 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.04.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is 59.77%.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ITRN. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the 4th quarter worth $2,718,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the 4th quarter worth $2,329,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 516,699 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,713,000 after buying an additional 72,656 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 274,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,553,000 after buying an additional 56,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 233,190 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,264,000 after buying an additional 48,850 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

About Ituran Location and Control

Ituran Location and Control Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides location based telematics services and machine-to-machine telematics products. It operates through two segments, Telematics Services and Telematics Products. The Telematics services segment offers stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, which enables to locate, track, and recover stolen vehicles for its subscribers; fleet management services that enable corporate and individual customers to track and manage their vehicles in real time; and locator services that allow customers to protect valuable merchandise and equipment.