Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 20,776 Shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Free Report) by 49.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,863 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 20,776 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.32% of Ituran Location and Control worth $1,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ITRN. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Ituran Location and Control by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,871 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the 3rd quarter worth $137,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 132.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ITRN traded up $0.34 on Thursday, reaching $34.92. 10,894 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 97,271. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $36.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.45. The stock has a market cap of $694.60 million, a PE ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.90. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 52-week low of $24.12 and a 52-week high of $45.43.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $82.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.81 million. Ituran Location and Control had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.

Ituran Location and Control Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.73%. This is a boost from Ituran Location and Control's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Ituran Location and Control's payout ratio is presently 73.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ituran Location and Control from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

About Ituran Location and Control

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.