Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRIGet Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 29th, there was short interest totalling 1,500,000 shares, an increase of 11.1% from the February 14th total of 1,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 387,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Itron

In other news, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 1,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $117,577.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,827.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 1,560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $117,577.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,827.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 1,912 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $144,107.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,743,032.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,467 shares of company stock valued at $2,752,520. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Itron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 31,458 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 3,764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,430 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $689,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,337 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,504,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.12% of the company’s stock.

Itron Stock Performance

Shares of ITRI opened at $87.41 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.95. Itron has a 52-week low of $50.40 and a 52-week high of $96.73.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRIGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.48. Itron had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 4.46%. The firm had revenue of $577.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $569.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Itron will post 3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded Itron from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Itron from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Raymond James downgraded Itron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Itron from $91.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Itron from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Itron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.80.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Itron

Itron Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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