ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised ICL Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

ICL Group Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE ICL opened at $5.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 0.97. ICL Group has a 52-week low of $4.76 and a 52-week high of $6.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 3.52%. Equities research analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.0535 per share. This is a boost from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. ICL Group’s payout ratio is presently 80.00%.

Institutional Trading of ICL Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ICL Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $122,297,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in ICL Group by 96.6% during the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 26,349,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $151,160,000 after buying an additional 12,946,737 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in ICL Group by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 19,537,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,054,000 after buying an additional 5,805,699 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in ICL Group by 120.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,153,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,635,000 after buying an additional 2,267,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD now owns 6,060,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,768,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.