Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.06, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $92.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.52 million. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 16.35% and a return on equity of 28.24%.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of ITRN stock opened at $36.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $717.23 million, a P/E ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.88. Ituran Location and Control has a 1 year low of $27.12 and a 1 year high of $45.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.41.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 29th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 29th. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is presently 71.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ituran Location and Control in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ituran Location and Control from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.00.

Institutional Trading of Ituran Location and Control

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ITRN. Man Group plc raised its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 90.8% in the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 137,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,331,000 after purchasing an additional 65,502 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 74.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 117,720 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,205,000 after buying an additional 50,127 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 159,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,687,000 after buying an additional 38,655 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 108,806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,214,000 after buying an additional 23,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 86,349 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,084,000 after acquiring an additional 21,815 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.