Empowered Funds LLC Takes $2.67 Million Position in Intrepid Potash, Inc $IPI

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Intrepid Potash, Inc (NYSE:IPI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 81,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,668,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Intrepid Potash in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,879,000. Gate City Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Intrepid Potash by 338.6% during the 4th quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC now owns 914,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,346,000 after buying an additional 705,638 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Intrepid Potash by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 734,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,413,000 after buying an additional 16,813 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Intrepid Potash by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 726,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,202,000 after acquiring an additional 81,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Intrepid Potash by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC now owns 267,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,424,000 after acquiring an additional 47,781 shares in the last quarter. 56.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Intrepid Potash Stock Up 1.4%

IPI stock opened at $41.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $555.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84 and a beta of 1.26. Intrepid Potash, Inc has a 12 month low of $22.55 and a 12 month high of $50.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.51.

Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.22). Intrepid Potash had a net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 4.74%. The business had revenue of $66.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.86 million. On average, research analysts expect that Intrepid Potash, Inc will post 1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Intrepid Potash from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Intrepid Potash in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research raised Intrepid Potash from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Intrepid Potash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.00.

About Intrepid Potash

Intrepid Potash, Inc is a leading U.S.-based producer and marketer of potash and related specialty fertilizer products. The company’s primary business centers on potassium chloride, a key nutrient used in agricultural applications to enhance crop yield and quality. In addition to potash, Intrepid Potash produces magnesium chloride and sodium chloride, which serve a variety of markets including de-icing, dust control and industrial chemical production.

Intrepid Potash operates through a combination of solution mining, solar evaporation and conventional underground mining techniques.