ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $5.35, but opened at $5.48. ICL Group shares last traded at $5.46, with a volume of 137,736 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ICL shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on ICL Group from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of ICL Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

ICL Group Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.18.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 8.31%. On average, research analysts expect that ICL Group Ltd will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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ICL Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.0403 per share. This is a boost from ICL Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. ICL Group's payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ICL. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in ICL Group by 49.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 78,139 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 25,992 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ICL Group by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 30,469 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of ICL Group by 65.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 591,187 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,513,000 after purchasing an additional 232,842 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in ICL Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $126,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in ICL Group during the third quarter worth approximately $589,000. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ICL Group

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.