ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised ICL Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.10.

ICL Group Stock Performance

Shares of ICL Group stock opened at $6.43 on Friday. ICL Group has a 52 week low of $4.76 and a 52 week high of $7.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.46. The firm has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 3.52%.The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Equities analysts forecast that ICL Group will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 29,770,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081,641 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in ICL Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,066,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $167,132,000 after acquiring an additional 382,780 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in ICL Group by 96.6% during the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 26,349,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $151,160,000 after acquiring an additional 12,946,737 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in ICL Group by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 22,040,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,812,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,702 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ICL Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $122,297,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.38% of the company’s stock.

About ICL Group

ICL Group is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Established in its current form through the consolidation of Israeli government–owned chemical operations, ICL has evolved into a publicly traded entity on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ICL). The company’s origins date back to state-driven mineral extraction in the Negev and the Dead Sea region, and over the decades it has grown through strategic acquisitions, technological innovation and a gradual privatization process completed in the early 2010s.

ICL’s core operations are organized into three principal business areas.