ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $5.18, but opened at $5.35. ICL Group shares last traded at $5.3550, with a volume of 866,937 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded ICL Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a report on Monday, December 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.23.

ICL Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.64 and a 200-day moving average of $6.19.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 5.23%. On average, analysts expect that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a $0.048 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 179,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 34,333 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in ICL Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 457,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,605,000 after purchasing an additional 47,070 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in ICL Group during the 1st quarter worth $117,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in ICL Group by 40.6% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 315,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,766,000 after purchasing an additional 91,286 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 8.2% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 25,717 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 1,952 shares during the last quarter. 13.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.