Short Interest in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Expands By 45.9%

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 56,600 shares, an increase of 45.9% from the October 15th total of 38,800 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 71,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ituran Location and Control

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 63.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the third quarter valued at $50,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the third quarter valued at $137,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Ituran Location and Control by 214.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control in the first quarter valued at $203,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ituran Location and Control Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ITRN traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $26.75. The company had a trading volume of 76,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,356. Ituran Location and Control has a twelve month low of $24.12 and a twelve month high of $30.00. The stock has a market cap of $532.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.69.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $84.87 million during the quarter. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.43% and a net margin of 15.42%.

Ituran Location and Control Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.83%. Ituran Location and Control’s payout ratio is presently 61.18%.

Ituran Location and Control Company Profile

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.