Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $2.72 Million Investment in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 87,248 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $2,718,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.44% of Ituran Location and Control as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% in 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 period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,708 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 2,144 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,061 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 14.8% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 19,030 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,460 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ituran Location and Control by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,897 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays raised 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 Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of ITRN traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $35.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 68,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 98,115. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 1-year low of $24.12 and a 1-year high of $45.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $697.09 million, a P/E ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.74.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.81 million.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Ituran Location and Control's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio is presently 73.80%.

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.