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 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. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 473,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itron

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ITRI. Quarry LP boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Itron by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 344 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Itron by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Itron Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of ITRI stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $105.36. The stock 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 two-hundred 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 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 company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Itron from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Itron from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Itron from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Itron from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Itron from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Itron presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.92.

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.