HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 23,805 Shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. $ITRN

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. by 76.6% in Q1, now holding 7,256 shares worth $262,000 after selling 23,805 shares.
• According to Wall Street analyst updates, Ituran's stock rating was downgraded from "buy" to "hold," with a current consensus price target of $50.00.
• Ituran recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, with a 6.1% yield, which will be paid to shareholders of record on September 25th.

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 76.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,256 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 23,805 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Ituran Location and Control were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ITRN. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the first quarter valued at $558,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the first quarter valued at $416,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Ituran Location and Control by 7.4% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 53,543 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,936,000 after buying an additional 3,689 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Ituran Location and Control by 5.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 31,425 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the first quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ ITRN traded down $0.40 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.05. 20,362 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 136,341. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 12 month low of $25.86 and a 12 month high of $45.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.24. The company has a market capitalization of $677.39 million, a P/E ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.87.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $86.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. Ituran Location and Control's payout ratio is presently 71.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ituran Location and Control Company Profile

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.