12,313 Shares in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Purchased by Magnetar Financial LLC

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,313 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,000. Magnetar Financial LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Ituran Location and Control as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Seizert Capital Partners LLC grew its stake 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 worth $4,928,000 after purchasing an additional 38,652 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter worth about $2,718,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 43.6% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 84,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 25,700 shares in the last quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA grew its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 55,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,716,000 after purchasing an additional 6,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 49,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 5,220 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Ituran Location and Control Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ITRN opened at $36.98 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.22. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 52-week low of $24.12 and a 52-week high of $45.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $735.68 million, a P/E ratio of 14.17 and a beta of 1.10.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The firm had revenue of $82.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.81 million.

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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.41%. 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. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is 73.80%.

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.