ICL Group Ltd. $ICL Shares Acquired by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd

Key Points

• Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings increased its stake in ICL Group by 12.8% in the first quarter, adding 2.5 million shares and bringing its total holding to about 22.0 million shares worth $112.8 million.
• ICL Group reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting earnings of $0.11 per share versus $0.10 expected and revenue of $2.02 billion versus $1.92 billion estimated.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.0535 per share, implying an annualized yield of 4.1%; analysts currently have a consensus Hold rating with a $7.00 price target.

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL - Free Report) by 12.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,040,479 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,502,702 shares during the quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd owned approximately 1.71% of ICL Group worth $112,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cadence Wealth Management LLC grew its position in ICL Group by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 110,559 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 14,909 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 17.7% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 50,938 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 7,665 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 27.6% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,856,439 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $14,615,000 after buying an additional 617,801 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in shares of ICL Group by 4.7% during the first quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 19,616,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $100,349,000 after buying an additional 877,644 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of ICL Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.38% of the company's stock.

ICL Group Stock Up 5.1%

ICL opened at $5.25 on Wednesday. ICL Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $4.76 and a 12 month high of $7.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $5.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27 and a beta of 0.97.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 3.52%. On average, research analysts expect that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.0535 per share. This represents a $0.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This is a positive change from ICL Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. ICL Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ICL shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ICL Group from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded ICL Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $7.00.

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.

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