BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Stock

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) had its price objective upped by BMO Capital Markets from $6.00 to $6.50 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on ICL. StockNews.com raised shares of ICL Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays raised shares of ICL Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

ICL Group Trading Down 2.2 %

ICL stock opened at $6.02 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. ICL Group has a 52-week low of $3.79 and a 52-week high of $6.57. The firm has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.23.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.08. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.0403 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from ICL Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. ICL Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.63%.

Institutional Trading of ICL Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in ICL Group by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 6,561 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in ICL Group by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 77,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 18,914 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in ICL Group by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 63,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,379 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in ICL Group by 258.6% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 250,589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 180,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in ICL Group by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,412,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,978,000 after acquiring an additional 237,704 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty minerals and chemicals company worldwide. It operates in four segments: Industrial Products, Potash, Phosphate Solutions, and Growing Solutions. The Industrial Products segment produces bromine out of a solution that is a by-product of the potash production process, as well as bromine-based compounds; produces various grades of potash, salt, magnesium chloride, and magnesia products; and produces and markets phosphorous-based flame retardants and other phosphorus-based products.