QSV Equity Investors LLC Decreases Holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. $ITRN

Key Points

• QSV Equity Investors LLC sold 11,189 shares of Ituran Location and Control, reducing its holdings by 18.4% in the first quarter, leaving them with a position representing approximately 1.9% of their portfolio.
• In contrast, several hedge funds, including Raymond James Financial Inc., increased their positions significantly, with Raymond James boosting its stake by 44.0% to own over 125,000 shares.
• Ituran declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, translating to an annualized yield of 4.9%, while also reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $0.73.

QSV Equity Investors LLC reduced its position in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,557 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 11,189 shares during the quarter. Ituran Location and Control comprises about 1.9% of QSV Equity Investors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. QSV Equity Investors LLC owned 0.25% of Ituran Location and Control worth $1,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the first quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 228,537 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $7,119,000 after acquiring an additional 18,563 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 130.7% in the first quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,667 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 9,442 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 12,248 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 4,648 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 147.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,707 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 5,189 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ituran Location and Control from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $50.00.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of ITRN stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.12. 99,964 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 104,478. The company has a market capitalization of $738.32 million, a PE ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 0.89. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 12-month low of $25.86 and a 12-month high of $45.43. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $38.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.41.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 16.35%.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.68%.

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.