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

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) was the target of a large drop in short interest in 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 short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days. Currently, 7.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Itron

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ITRI. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Itron by 42.1% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 344 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 53.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 352 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Itron by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Itron by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 724 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Itron by 154.9% during the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 864 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. 96.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Itron from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Itron from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Itron from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Itron from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Itron from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.92.

Itron Stock Up 0.9 %

ITRI traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $105.36. The company had a trading volume of 394,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,397. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $112.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.62. Itron has a 52 week low of $69.23 and a 52 week high of $124.90. The company has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.71. The business had revenue of $615.46 million during 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 was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Itron will post 5.33 earnings per share 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.