Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) Short Interest Up 15.5% in October

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 38,800 shares, an increase of 15.5% from the September 30th total of 33,600 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 74,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ITRN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Ituran Location and Control by 63.4% during the 3rd 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 stake in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control during the first quarter valued at about $203,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ituran Location and Control in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ituran Location and Control in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Ituran Location and Control Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ITRN traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $26.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 50,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,251. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.56. The company has a market capitalization of $532.96 million, a P/E ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.14. Ituran Location and Control has a 12 month low of $24.01 and a 12 month high of $30.00.

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

Ituran Location and Control Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. Ituran Location and Control's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.40%.

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.