Itochu (OTCMKTS:ITOCY) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Itochu Corp. (OTCMKTS:ITOCY) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $13.62, but opened at $14.19. Itochu shares last traded at $14.00, with a volume of 32,135 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Itochu from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy”.

Itochu Trading Down 0.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $110.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $13.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Itochu (OTCMKTS:ITOCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $24.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.01 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Itochu Corp. will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itochu

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Itochu by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 103,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Itochu by 11.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 31,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 3,128 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in shares of Itochu by 898.1% during the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 15,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 13,993 shares during the period. Finally, Aristotle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Itochu by 897.0% during the first quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 117,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,468,000 after buying an additional 105,505 shares during the period. 0.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Itochu

Itochu Corporation is a Japan-based general trading company with business activities spanning a broad range of industries and geographies. The company develops, imports, exports and distributes products while also investing in businesses and providing related services through its global network.

Itochu’s principal operations include textiles, food, metals and minerals, energy and chemicals, machinery, general products and real estate, as well as financial services and information and communications technology.