Wall Street Zen Downgrades Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) to Buy

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

Shares of Ituran Location and Control stock opened at $39.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.01 and a 200-day moving average of $35.58. The stock has a market cap of $781.28 million, a PE ratio of 14.13 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.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $86.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.47 million.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 15,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 6.0% during the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 13,055 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 327.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 1.3% during the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 76,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Ituran Location and Control during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Ituran Location and Control Company 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.