ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Down 13.1% in February

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 29th, there was short interest totalling 1,530,000 shares, a decrease of 13.1% from the February 14th total of 1,760,000 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 889,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $215,923,000 after purchasing an additional 250,673 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $124,719,000 after purchasing an additional 419,241 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its stake in shares of ICL Group by 40.2% during the third quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 16,906,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,851,284 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of ICL Group by 0.9% during the third quarter. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. now owns 15,704,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,159,000 after purchasing an additional 138,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in ICL Group by 4.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,653,126 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,056,000 after acquiring an additional 363,493 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.54% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Stock Performance

Shares of ICL stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $5.04. The stock had a trading volume of 886,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 935,646. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 1.22. ICL Group has a twelve month low of $4.30 and a twelve month high of $7.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $4.85 and its 200 day moving average is $5.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.0476 per share. This represents a $0.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is 37.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on ICL Group from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet downgraded ICL Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.75.

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.