ICL Group Ltd. $ICL Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,596,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 169,866 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in ICL Group were worth $9,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in ICL Group by 34.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ICL Group by 120.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,153,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267,245 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ICL Group in the second quarter worth $7,798,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in ICL Group by 29.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,138,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,716,000 after acquiring an additional 488,750 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ICL Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,683,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,100,000 after acquiring an additional 451,440 shares during the period. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ICL Group Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ICL opened at $5.20 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $5.32 and a 200-day moving average of $5.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. ICL Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $4.76 and a 52-week high of $7.35.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.44% and a net margin of 3.16%. On average, analysts anticipate that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.37 EPS for the current year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.0465 per share. This represents a $0.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is 82.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.10.

ICL Group Company 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.