Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $97.60.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ITRI. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Itron from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Itron from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Itron from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Raymond James lowered shares of Itron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Itron in a research note on Tuesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Itron news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 1,912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $144,107.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,743,032.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Itron news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 1,912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $144,107.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 169,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,743,032.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 1,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $4,532,827.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,467 shares of company stock valued at $2,752,520. Insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Itron

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ITRI. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Itron in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 61.5% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 344 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Itron by 9,150.0% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 555 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Itron in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Itron in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Itron Price Performance

Itron stock opened at $94.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 44.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.41. Itron has a 52-week low of $50.60 and a 52-week high of $96.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.52.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.48. Itron had a net margin of 4.46% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $577.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $569.90 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Itron will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Itron Company Profile

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.