Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,718,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,329,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Ituran Location and Control by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 274,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,553,000 after acquiring an additional 56,956 shares in the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 233,190 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,264,000 after purchasing an additional 48,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 158,204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after purchasing an additional 38,652 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

Shares of ITRN stock traded down $0.30 on Friday, reaching $36.58. 85,956 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 93,487. The company has a market capitalization of $727.72 million, a P/E ratio of 14.02 and a beta of 1.10. Ituran Location and Control has a 12-month low of $24.12 and a 12-month high of $45.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $36.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.57.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $82.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business 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 is a boost from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is currently 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.