Wall Street Zen Downgrades Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) to Buy

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday.

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

Ituran Location and Control Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Ituran Location and Control stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 153,289. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.47 and a 200 day moving average of $34.39. Ituran Location and Control has a 1-year low of $24.12 and a 1-year high of $45.43. The company has a market capitalization of $777.26 million, a PE ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 0.80.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%. The firm had revenue of $86.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.47 million.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ITRN. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the first quarter worth $54,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter valued at $117,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,871 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.