Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

Key Points

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Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $40.28, but opened at $39.03. Ituran Location and Control shares last traded at $37.35, with a volume of 81,833 shares trading hands.

The industrial products company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio is 71.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $50.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 2nd quarter valued at $625,000. Man Group plc grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 90.8% in the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 137,657 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $5,331,000 after buying an additional 65,502 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 59,607 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,308,000 after buying an additional 6,277 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 85.8% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,014 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 5,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 43.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,196 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 1,868 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $38.95 and its 200 day moving average is $37.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $738.47 million, a PE ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 0.89.

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.