Wall Street Zen Downgrades ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) to Hold

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, ICL Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.23.

ICL Group Stock Performance

ICL opened at $5.34 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.80. ICL Group has a 1 year low of $4.85 and a 1 year high of $7.35.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 5.23%.The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICL. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in ICL Group during the 2nd quarter worth $20,022,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of ICL Group by 34.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,008,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,693,000 after purchasing an additional 2,563,805 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ICL Group by 120.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,153,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267,245 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in ICL Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,820,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in ICL Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,798,000. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

About ICL Group

ICL Group is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Established in its current form through the consolidation of Israeli government–owned chemical operations, ICL has evolved into a publicly traded entity on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ICL). The company’s origins date back to state-driven mineral extraction in the Negev and the Dead Sea region, and over the decades it has grown through strategic acquisitions, technological innovation and a gradual privatization process completed in the early 2010s.

ICL’s core operations are organized into three principal business areas.