Norges Bank Acquires New Shares in IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 45,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,172,000. Norges Bank owned 0.18% of IDT as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IDT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in IDT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,018,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of IDT by 10.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 55,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 5,417 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in IDT by 240.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 19,112 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in IDT by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 83,868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,201,000 after purchasing an additional 17,725 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of IDT by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,077,000 after buying an additional 25,541 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised IDT from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th.

IDT Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:IDT opened at $48.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 0.58. IDT Co. has a twelve month low of $33.84 and a twelve month high of $58.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.07.

IDT (NYSE:IDT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter. IDT had a net margin of 6.10% and a return on equity of 22.18%. The business had revenue of $303.35 million for the quarter.

IDT Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from IDT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. IDT’s payout ratio is 7.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO David Wartell sold 10,735 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.99, for a total value of $525,907.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 25.32% of the company’s stock.

IDT Profile

IDT Corporation provides communications and payment services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Fintech, National Retail Solutions, net2phone, and Traditional Communications segments. The company operates point of sale, a terminal-based platform which provides independent retailers store management software, electronic payment processing, and other ancillary merchant services; and provides marketers with digital out-of-home advertising and transaction data.