Aristides Capital LLC Has $7.26 Million Stock Position in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Aristides Capital LLC boosted its position in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 233,190 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 48,850 shares during the quarter. Ituran Location and Control makes up 1.5% of Aristides Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Ituran Location and Control were worth $7,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 274,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,553,000 after purchasing an additional 56,956 shares during the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Ituran Location and Control by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 158,204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after acquiring an additional 38,652 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter worth about $2,718,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter worth about $2,329,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 49.4% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,863 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after purchasing an additional 20,776 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays increased 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 Stock Down 6.4 %

NASDAQ ITRN opened at $32.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $651.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 1.10. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a twelve month low of $24.12 and a twelve month high of $45.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.01 and its 200 day moving average is $31.85.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%. The firm had revenue of $82.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.81 million.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio is 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.