Shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI – Get Rating) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.22.
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Itron from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Itron in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Itron in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Itron from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $53.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Itron from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th.
Itron Stock Up 0.7 %
ITRI stock opened at $52.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -239.86 and a beta of 1.34. Itron has a one year low of $39.38 and a one year high of $60.61.
Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $467.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.90 million. Itron had a positive return on equity of 4.41% and a negative net margin of 0.54%. Itron’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Itron will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Itron
In other Itron news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $489,480. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Itron news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 903 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $50,134.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,726.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,158 shares in the company, valued at $489,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,365 shares of company stock valued at $675,353 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Itron
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ITRI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Itron by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,080,619 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $213,945,000 after purchasing an additional 106,342 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Itron by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,600,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $133,785,000 after purchasing an additional 401,394 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in Itron by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,420,328 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $71,940,000 after purchasing an additional 16,241 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Itron by 3.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,260,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $53,087,000 after purchasing an additional 37,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Itron by 12.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 991,633 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $52,239,000 after acquiring an additional 110,107 shares in the last quarter. 96.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Itron Company Profile
Itron, Inc is a technology and services company, which engages in the provision of solutions that measure, manage, and analyze energy and water use. It operates through the following segments: Device Solutions, Networked Solutions, and Outcomes. The Device Solutions segment includes hardware products used for measurement, control, or sensing that do not have communications capability embedded for use with its broader Itron systems.
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