ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Increases Dividend to $0.04 Per Share

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.0403 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This is a boost from ICL Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01.

ICL Group has decreased its dividend by an average of 3.5% per year over the last three years. ICL Group has a dividend payout ratio of 43.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect ICL Group to earn $0.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.21 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

ICL Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ICL traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $5.90. 1,092,849 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 977,209. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.83. ICL Group has a 1-year low of $3.79 and a 1-year high of $6.57. The firm has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.23.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. ICL Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 5.83%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded ICL Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $4.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut ICL Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on ICL Group from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday.

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.