Raymond James Financial Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. $ITRN

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. by 44% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 38,429 shares, bringing their total ownership to 125,677 shares valued at approximately $4.54 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $2.00 with a yield of 5.9%, to be paid on October 10th, 2023.
• Despite a consensus "Buy" rating, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ituran to a "hold" rating, with the stock's average price target set at $50.00.

Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 44.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,677 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,429 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.63% of Ituran Location and Control worth $4,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth approximately $209,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the 1st quarter worth $558,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the 1st quarter worth $416,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 53,543 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 31,425 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

Shares of Ituran Location and Control stock traded up $1.09 on Thursday, hitting $35.15. 98,604 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 165,017. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $699.27 million, a PE ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 0.87. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 1 year low of $25.86 and a 1 year high of $45.43.

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

Ituran Location and Control Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Ituran Location and Control's payout ratio is 71.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ituran Location and Control 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.