Royce & Associates LP Acquires Shares of 4,272 Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP has purchased 4,272 shares of Itron, Inc. valued at approximately $448,000, marking a new stake in the scientific and technical instruments company.
• Institutional investors own a significant 96.19% of Itron's stock, with additional hedge funds like First Trust Advisors and Northern Trust Corp increasing their stakes recently.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Itron, with recent price targets ranging from $121.00 to $155.00, highlighting a generally positive outlook despite some conflicting analyst ratings.

Royce & Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,272 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Itron by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 802,584 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $87,145,000 after buying an additional 66,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Itron in the fourth quarter valued at $64,615,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Itron by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 572,266 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $62,137,000 after purchasing an additional 58,546 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Itron by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 560,478 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $60,857,000 after purchasing an additional 99,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Itron by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 536,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $58,233,000 after purchasing an additional 12,810 shares in the last quarter. 96.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Itron Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ITRI traded down $1.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $123.18. 1,268,538 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 594,805. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Itron, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.11 and a 12-month high of $140.04. The company has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $128.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.01.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.29. Itron had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $606.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $610.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Itron, Inc. will post 5.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Justin K. Patrick sold 9,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.77, for a total transaction of $1,100,313.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 21,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,575,313.73. The trade was a 29.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary C. Hemmingsen sold 5,150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $559,805.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 952 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $103,482.40. This trade represents a 84.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,905 shares of company stock worth $2,439,202. 1.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ITRI. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Itron from $124.00 to $121.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Johnson Rice lowered Itron from a "buy" rating to an "accumulate" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Itron from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen raised their price target on Itron from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price target (up previously from $133.00) on shares of Itron in a report on Monday, July 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Itron currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $134.58.

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.