Phoenix Financial Ltd. Trims Holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 64.1%, selling 456,225 shares and retaining 256,021 shares valued at approximately $9.39 million.
• Ituran recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, with an annualized payout representing a dividend yield of 4.89% and a dividend payout ratio of 71.94%.
• Despite a slight increase in quarterly earnings to $0.73 per share, Ituran's revenue of $86.46 million fell short of analysts' expectations of $88.47 million.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 64.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 256,021 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 456,225 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. owned about 1.29% of Ituran Location and Control worth $9,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Ituran Location and Control by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 274,562 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $8,553,000 after buying an additional 56,956 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the first quarter worth about $262,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 228,537 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,119,000 after purchasing an additional 18,563 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 12,248 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 4,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 147.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,707 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 5,189 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered Ituran Location and Control from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th.

Ituran Location and Control Price Performance

ITRN stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.45. 25,480 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 135,337. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.57. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 12 month low of $25.09 and a 12 month high of $45.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $804.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.82.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $86.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.47 million. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 29.19% and a net margin of 16.35%.

Ituran Location and Control Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.94%.

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.