Altshuler Shaham Ltd Buys 12,946,737 Shares of ICL Group Ltd. $ICL

Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in shares of ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) by 96.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,349,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,946,737 shares during the quarter. ICL Group accounts for about 2.2% of Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Altshuler Shaham Ltd owned about 2.01% of ICL Group worth $151,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 46,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 13,342 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 4th quarter worth about $418,000. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 745,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,255,000 after purchasing an additional 37,057 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 127,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $734,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 444,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,552,000 after purchasing an additional 122,878 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ICL Group Price Performance

Shares of ICL Group stock opened at $5.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.51. ICL Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $4.76 and a twelve month high of $7.35. The firm has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23 and a beta of 0.92.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 7.84%. As a group, research analysts expect that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were given a $0.0535 dividend. This represents a $0.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. This is a boost from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.00%.

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.