Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $128.00 to $135.00. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. Itron traded as high as $123.43 and last traded at $121.42, with a volume of 25931 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $117.68.

ITRI has been the topic of a number of other reports. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Itron in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $133.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Itron from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Itron in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Itron from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Itron from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 509 shares of Itron stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.15, for a total value of $51,994.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,389,326.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Itron news, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 509 shares of Itron stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.15, for a total transaction of $51,994.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,389,326.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 887 shares of Itron stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.15, for a total value of $90,607.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 205,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,968,943.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 43,276 shares of company stock valued at $4,515,846. 1.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ITRI. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Itron during the first quarter worth about $346,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Itron by 19.3% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in shares of Itron by 293.4% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 4,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,131 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Itron by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 39,815 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,684,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in shares of Itron by 186.0% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 36,260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 23,581 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Itron Stock Up 3.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 3.36 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.24.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $615.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $596.41 million. Itron had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 9.37%. Itron’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Itron, Inc. will post 5.34 EPS for the current year.

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.