Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Short Interest Down 29.7% in April

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 67,200 shares, a decrease of 29.7% from the March 31st total of 95,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 188,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Down 1.8 %

ITRN traded down $0.64 during trading on Monday, hitting $35.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 37,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 98,392. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $36.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.94. Ituran Location and Control has a one year low of $24.12 and a one year high of $45.43. The firm has a market cap of $698.28 million, a PE ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.90.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%. The company had revenue of $82.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.81 million.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.70%. This is a positive change from Ituran Location and Control's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Ituran Location and Control's payout ratio is currently 73.80%.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 39,464 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 14,527 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 4th quarter valued at about $835,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 132.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 274,562 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $8,553,000 after purchasing an additional 56,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

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.