ICL Group Ltd. $ICL Stock Position Lifted by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,245,458 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 419,540 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in ICL Group were worth $24,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ICL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,267,245 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in ICL Group by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 18,738,939 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $107,498,000 after purchasing an additional 979,321 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in ICL Group by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,138,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,716,000 after purchasing an additional 488,750 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,683,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,100,000 after buying an additional 451,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 6,275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 354,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,204,000 after buying an additional 360,137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ICL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ICL Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ICL Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.60.

ICL Group Price Performance

Shares of ICL Group stock opened at $6.65 on Monday. ICL Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $4.76 and a 1-year high of $7.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.48.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 3.52%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.0535 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 2nd. This is a positive change from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is 70.00%.

ICL Group Profile

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.