ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Down 22.8% in January

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,590,000 shares, a decline of 22.8% from the December 31st total of 2,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 797,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ICL. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in ICL Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in shares of ICL Group by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 16,479,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $81,334,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,715 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC lifted its stake in ICL Group by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 29,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 6,022 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in ICL Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $504,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in ICL Group by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 60,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 19,971 shares during the period. 13.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ICL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays raised ICL Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

ICL Group Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE ICL traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5.90. 831,243 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 727,467. The stock has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 0.91. ICL Group has a one year low of $3.79 and a one year high of $6.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.56.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 5.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.0133 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty minerals and chemicals company worldwide. It operates in four segments: Industrial Products, Potash, Phosphate Solutions, and Growing Solutions. The Industrial Products segment produces bromine out of a solution that is a by-product of the potash production process, as well as bromine-based compounds; produces various grades of potash, salt, magnesium chloride, and magnesia products; and produces and markets phosphorous-based flame retardants and other phosphorus-based products.