Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Reaches New 12-Month High After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $45.24 and last traded at $42.70, with a volume of 118622 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $40.17.

The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%. The company had revenue of $82.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.81 million.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is 59.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays upped their price objective on Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 63.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter valued at $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter valued at $137,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 214.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Ituran Location and Control Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $851.07 million, a PE ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.99.

Ituran Location and Control Company Profile

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.