Short Interest in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Drops By 47.1%

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) saw a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 83,600 shares, a decrease of 47.1% from the February 28th total of 157,900 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 190,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays lifted their price target on Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter valued at about $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted 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 worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $178,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 214.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:ITRN traded down $0.44 on Friday, hitting $36.45. The stock had a trading volume of 34,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,123. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.47. Ituran Location and Control has a 1-year low of $24.12 and a 1-year high of $45.43. The stock has a market cap of $725.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.97 and a beta of 1.10.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.49%. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.80%.

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.