Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Raises Holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. $ITRN

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 528,164 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,550 shares during the quarter. Ituran Location and Control accounts for about 1.3% of Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ituran Location and Control were worth $22,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 656 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 327.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 77.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ITRN shares. Loop Capital set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Ituran Location and Control in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ituran Location and Control to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Maxim Group started coverage on shares of Ituran Location and Control in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ituran Location and Control from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ituran Location and Control in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.67.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Down 0.1%

ITRN opened at $66.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $58.96 and a 200-day moving average of $50.39. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 52 week low of $32.71 and a 52 week high of $68.30.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $102.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.32 million. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 27.70% and a net margin of 16.03%. Equities analysts anticipate that Ituran Location and Control Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Ituran Location and Control Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 198.02%.

Ituran Location and Control Company Profile

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. is a provider of wireless vehicle tracking and stolen vehicle recovery services. The company leverages a combination of cellular and global positioning system (GPS) technologies to offer real-time monitoring and location-based solutions for private vehicle owners, fleet operators and insurance companies. Its core offerings include subscription-based tracking devices, centralized control centers and software platforms that enable clients to detect unauthorized vehicle use, dispatch recovery teams and manage fleet logistics.

Founded in 1994 in Israel, Ituran pioneered the use of wireless communications for security and telematics applications.