Vulcan Value Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Vulcan Value Partners LLC decreased its stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,031,001 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 188,620 shares during the period. Vulcan Value Partners LLC owned about 5.18% of Ituran Location and Control worth $32,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter valued at about $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 132.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ituran Location and Control Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ITRN traded down $0.67 on Thursday, reaching $35.27. 18,213 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 97,922. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 52 week low of $24.12 and a 52 week high of $45.43. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $36.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $701.66 million, a P/E ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.67%. This is a boost from Ituran Location and Control's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. 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.