Jennison Associates LLC Buys 684 Shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 684 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Itron were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Xponance Inc. bought a new position in shares of Itron during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Itron by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 139,147 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $10,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,003 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Itron by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 130,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,835,000 after purchasing an additional 15,392 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Itron in the 4th quarter worth approximately $587,000. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors bought a new position in Itron in the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. 96.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Itron Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of ITRI opened at $95.75 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 45.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $89.76 and a 200 day moving average of $76.29. Itron, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.97 and a 52-week high of $97.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $577.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $569.90 million. Itron had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 4.46%. Itron’s revenue was up 23.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Itron, Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Itron in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Itron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Raymond James downgraded Itron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Itron from $77.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Itron from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $81.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 383 shares of Itron stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $28,866.71. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,708 shares in the company, valued at $656,321.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 383 shares of Itron stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $28,866.71. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,708 shares in the company, valued at $656,321.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jerome J. Lande sold 14,896 shares of Itron stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.25, for a total value of $1,418,844.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $547,687.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,467 shares of company stock worth $2,752,520 over the last three months. 1.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Itron Company Profile

Itron, Inc, a technology, solutions, and service company, provides end-to-end solutions that help manage energy, water, and smart city operations worldwide. It operates in three segments: Device Solutions, Networked Solutions, and Outcomes. The Device Solutions segment offers hardware products that are used for measurement, control, or sensing, such as standard gas, electricity, water, and communicating meters, as well as heat and allocation products.