ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $4.76 and last traded at $4.7550, with a volume of 462,478 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $4.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ICL. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.00.

ICL Group Stock Down 1.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.36 and a 200 day moving average of $5.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.03.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.40% and a net margin of 3.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.0581 dividend. This is a boost from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0535. This represents a $0.23 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ICL. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in ICL Group in the first quarter valued at $54,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 1st quarter worth about $62,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 1st quarter worth about $69,000. 55 North Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Abel Hall LLC bought a new stake in shares of ICL Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $96,000. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE: ICL) is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company headquartered in Israel. Formerly known as Israel Chemicals, the company was established in 1968 and develops, produces and markets mineral-based products for agriculture, food, and industrial applications.

Its agriculture business supplies potash and phosphate-based fertilizers, specialty plant nutrients, and related solutions designed to support crop production. ICL also produces ingredients for the food industry, including specialty phosphates and other functional materials used in food processing and nutrition applications.

The company’s industrial products include bromine-based compounds, flame retardants, water-treatment chemicals, and other specialty chemicals.