ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Update

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,060,000 shares, a growth of 61.9% from the February 13th total of 1,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 933,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ICL Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

ICL Group Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:ICL traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $6.25. 331,325 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 937,174. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. ICL Group has a fifty-two week low of $3.79 and a fifty-two week high of $6.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.21.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.08. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.0403 per share. This is a positive change from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ICL. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of ICL Group by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 156,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 31,461 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position in ICL Group by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,306,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,873,000 after purchasing an additional 8,848 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $604,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in ICL Group by 49.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 78,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 25,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

About ICL Group

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.