AQR Capital Management LLC Has $7.50 Million Stock Holdings in Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 15,420 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.17% of Itron worth $7,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Itron by 85.6% during the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Itron by 61.5% in the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 344 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Itron by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 491 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Itron by 315.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 881 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Itron during the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. Institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 37,500 shares of Itron stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.83, for a total value of $3,931,125.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 205,276 shares in the company, valued at $21,519,083.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 4,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.00, for a total value of $425,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,643,169. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 37,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.83, for a total value of $3,931,125.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 205,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,519,083.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,276 shares of company stock valued at $4,515,846 in the last quarter. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Itron in a report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Itron from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Itron from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Itron from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Itron from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.67.

Itron Stock Down 1.9 %

Itron stock opened at $103.59 on Friday. Itron, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.11 and a twelve month high of $113.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.61, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $101.09 and a 200-day moving average of $100.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.47.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $609.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $599.25 million. Itron had a return on equity of 16.42% and a net margin of 7.98%. The company’s revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Itron, Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Itron

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.