Lazard Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 45,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,866 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ituran Location and Control were worth $1,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ITRN. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 132.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 58.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 39,464 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 14,527 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter worth about $835,000. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 21,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 2,660 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter worth about $117,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ituran Location and Control Price Performance

NASDAQ:ITRN opened at $37.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $752.39 million, a PE ratio of 14.49 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.38 and a 200 day moving average of $33.54. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 1-year low of $24.12 and a 1-year high of $45.43.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $82.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.81 million. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 28.31%.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.29%. 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.