Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Itron from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Itron from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Itron from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Itron from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Itron from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $104.18.

Itron Price Performance

Shares of ITRI opened at $102.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.47. Itron has a 1-year low of $56.11 and a 1-year high of $111.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $603.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $579.49 million. Itron had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 14.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Itron will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Itron

In other Itron news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 873 shares of Itron stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.87, for a total value of $95,043.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 206,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,444,965.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 501 shares of Itron stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.87, for a total transaction of $54,543.87. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,930,852.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 873 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.87, for a total transaction of $95,043.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 206,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,444,965.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,775 shares of company stock valued at $192,613 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Itron

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Itron during the 1st quarter valued at $1,900,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Itron during the 1st quarter valued at $1,319,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 542,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,233,000 after acquiring an additional 11,918 shares in the last quarter. Kingdon Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Itron during the 1st quarter valued at $7,170,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in shares of Itron during the 1st quarter valued at $1,211,000. Institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

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.