Vestcor Inc Cuts Holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Vestcor Inc lowered its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,459 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc owned 0.33% of Ituran Location and Control worth $2,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in Ituran Location and Control by 43.6% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 84,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 25,700 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 77.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 44,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,185,000 after buying an additional 19,514 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 128.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 23,099 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 214.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 4,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 103.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 27,554 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 14,020 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Ituran Location and Control Price Performance

Shares of ITRN stock opened at $37.98 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.90. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 1-year low of $24.12 and a 1-year high of $45.43. The company has a market cap of $755.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 1.10.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $82.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.81 million. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. This is a boost from Ituran Location and Control’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.80%.

About Ituran Location and Control

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.