Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) Short Interest Down 11.2% in December

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,170,000 shares, a drop of 11.2% from the December 15th total of 3,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 473,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.7 days. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Itron from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upped their price target on Itron from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Itron from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Itron from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on Itron from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itron currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.92.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itron

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Itron by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,074,940 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,835,000 after acquiring an additional 5,630 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Itron by 62.7% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 899,789 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $96,106,000 after acquiring an additional 346,615 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Itron by 86.2% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 603,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $59,760,000 after acquiring an additional 279,629 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Itron by 90.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 511,734 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,658,000 after acquiring an additional 243,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Itron by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 429,945 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $45,922,000 after acquiring an additional 6,310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Itron Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of ITRI traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $105.36. 394,015 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 353,397. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Itron has a 1-year low of $69.23 and a 1-year high of $124.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $112.52 and a 200-day moving average of $106.62.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.71. The business had revenue of $615.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $596.41 million. Itron had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 9.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Itron will post 5.33 EPS for the current 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.