ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.10.

ICL Group Trading Down 1.4%

ICL opened at $5.38 on Friday. ICL Group has a 1 year low of $4.76 and a 1 year high of $7.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09. ICL Group had a net margin of 3.16% and a return on equity of 7.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. Analysts forecast that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICL Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $107,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ICL Group by 120.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,153,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267,245 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in ICL Group by 20.4% in the first quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 26,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 4,438 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in ICL Group by 19.4% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 32,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 5,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in ICL Group by 5.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,709,301 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,760,000 after purchasing an additional 82,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Established in its current form through the consolidation of Israeli government–owned chemical operations, ICL has evolved into a publicly traded entity on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ICL). The company’s origins date back to state-driven mineral extraction in the Negev and the Dead Sea region, and over the decades it has grown through strategic acquisitions, technological innovation and a gradual privatization process completed in the early 2010s.

ICL’s core operations are organized into three principal business areas.