Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Cut to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Ituran Location and Control stock traded up $0.49 on Friday, hitting $39.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 74,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 107,859. The company has a market capitalization of $782.07 million, a P/E ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 0.82. Ituran Location and Control has a 52-week low of $24.17 and a 52-week high of $45.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.71.

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 net margin of 16.35% and a return on equity of 29.19%. The company had revenue of $86.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.47 million.

Ituran Location and Control Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Ituran Location and Control's payout ratio is 71.94%.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the 4th quarter valued at about $209,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter worth about $2,718,000. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 2,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 49,854 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,553,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.