ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) Shares Cross Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) shares passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.46 and traded as high as $5.64. ICL Group shares last traded at $5.5950, with a volume of 1,442,829 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ICL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ICL Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on ICL Group from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ICL Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.23.

ICL Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.11.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 7.24%. As a group, research analysts expect that ICL Group Ltd. will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were issued a $0.048 dividend. This represents a $0.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 2nd. ICL Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICL Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of ICL Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $20,022,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in ICL Group by 34.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,008,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,693,000 after acquiring an additional 2,563,805 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in ICL Group by 120.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,153,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267,245 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group during the second quarter worth $10,820,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of ICL Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,798,000. 13.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.