Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 11,560 Shares of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. $ITRN

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) by 39.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,845 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,560 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Ituran Location and Control worth $2,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Baron Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $221,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 3.9% in the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 58,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,847,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 10.3% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 111,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,475,000 after purchasing an additional 10,464 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Ituran Location and Control by 0.7% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 531,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,066,000 after purchasing an additional 3,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Ituran Location and Control during the first quarter worth $204,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ituran Location and Control from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ituran Location and Control in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ituran Location and Control to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ituran Location and Control has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.67.

Ituran Location and Control Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of ITRN opened at $52.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38 and a beta of 0.79. Ituran Location and Control Ltd. has a 1-year low of $32.71 and a 1-year high of $68.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.66.

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.05. Ituran Location and Control had a net margin of 16.03% and a return on equity of 27.70%. The firm had revenue of $102.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.32 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ituran Location and Control Ltd. will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Ituran Location and Control Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 24th. Ituran Location and Control’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.01%.

About Ituran Location and Control

Ituran Location and Control Ltd. is a provider of wireless vehicle tracking and stolen vehicle recovery services. The company leverages a combination of cellular and global positioning system (GPS) technologies to offer real-time monitoring and location-based solutions for private vehicle owners, fleet operators and insurance companies. Its core offerings include subscription-based tracking devices, centralized control centers and software platforms that enable clients to detect unauthorized vehicle use, dispatch recovery teams and manage fleet logistics.

Founded in 1994 in Israel, Ituran pioneered the use of wireless communications for security and telematics applications.