Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Short Interest Up 40.0% in May

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 114,700 shares, an increase of 40.0% from the May 15th total of 81,900 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 103,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ITRN stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $35.57. 61,674 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 105,528. Ituran Location and Control has a fifty-two week low of $24.12 and a fifty-two week high of $45.43. The stock's 50 day moving average is $36.04 and its 200-day moving average is $34.98. The company has a market cap of $707.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.82.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $86.46 million for 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Ituran Location and Control's payout ratio is currently 71.94%.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ITRN. Invst LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the first quarter worth $398,000. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 327.2% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,226 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 13,055 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 742 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 9,128 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITRN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ituran Location and Control from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

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.