ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their target price on ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.23.

ICL Group Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of NYSE ICL opened at $5.34 on Friday. ICL Group has a fifty-two week low of $4.85 and a fifty-two week high of $7.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.04.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 7.24%. On average, research analysts anticipate that ICL Group will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.048 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, December 2nd. ICL Group’s payout ratio is 48.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in ICL Group during the 2nd quarter worth $20,022,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 34.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,008,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,693,000 after purchasing an additional 2,563,805 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 2,267,245 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in ICL Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $10,820,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,798,000. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

About ICL Group

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.