Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Loop Capital set a $57.00 target price on Ituran Location and Control in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ituran Location and Control in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ituran Location and Control from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Maxim Group started coverage on Ituran Location and Control in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.67.

Ituran Location and Control Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ITRN opened at $51.15 on Friday. Ituran Location and Control has a 1 year low of $30.06 and a 1 year high of $53.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $48.24 and its 200 day moving average is $42.72.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $93.50 million during the quarter. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 27.27%.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 30th. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is 206.19%.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ITRN. Ibex Investors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ibex Investors LLC now owns 896,313 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,016,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 858,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,236,000 after buying an additional 39,718 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 909.3% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 539,817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,218,000 after acquiring an additional 486,331 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 528,164 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,716,000 after acquiring an additional 34,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 410,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ituran Location and Control

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. is a provider of wireless vehicle tracking and stolen vehicle recovery services. The company leverages a combination of cellular and global positioning system (GPS) technologies to offer real-time monitoring and location-based solutions for private vehicle owners, fleet operators and insurance companies. Its core offerings include subscription-based tracking devices, centralized control centers and software platforms that enable clients to detect unauthorized vehicle use, dispatch recovery teams and manage fleet logistics.

Founded in 1994 in Israel, Ituran pioneered the use of wireless communications for security and telematics applications.