Acadian Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. $ITRN

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. by 3.7%, now holding approximately 3.08% of the company's shares worth $22.12 million.
• Wall Street analysts downgraded Ituran Location and Control from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, with an average target price set at $50.00.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, reflecting an annualized dividend of $2.00 and a yield of 5.7%, payable on October 10th.

Acadian Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 612,925 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 23,316 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 3.08% of Ituran Location and Control worth $22,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ITRN. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth about $2,131,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 44.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 125,677 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,544,000 after purchasing an additional 38,429 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth about $1,335,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth about $1,216,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 294.7% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,010 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 32,113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of ITRN traded up $1.22 on Monday, reaching $36.19. 173,739 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 136,204. The stock has a market cap of $719.96 million, a PE ratio of 12.97 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $38.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.04. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 52-week low of $25.86 and a 52-week high of $45.43.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $86.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.17 million. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 16.35% and a return on equity of 28.24%.

Ituran Location and Control Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 25th. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut Ituran Location and Control from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.00.

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.