Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Increases Stock Position in Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) by 101.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 97,515 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 49,183 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Itron were worth $9,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 85.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 61.5% during the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 344 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 53.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 352 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 32.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 491 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Itron during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Itron Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ ITRI opened at $104.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a current ratio of 3.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.47. Itron, Inc. has a one year low of $56.11 and a one year high of $113.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $101.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.41.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.25. Itron had a return on equity of 16.42% and a net margin of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $609.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $599.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Itron’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Itron, Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ITRI. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Itron from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Itron from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Itron from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Itron from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Itron from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Itron news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 37,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $21,519,083.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction of $425,210.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,643,169. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 37,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $21,519,083.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,276 shares of company stock worth $4,515,846 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

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.