Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) by 51.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,085 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Itron were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Itron by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,701,337 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $527,488,000 after acquiring an additional 45,909 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position 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 position 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. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Itron by 2.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 542,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,233,000 after acquiring an additional 11,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ITRI. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Itron in a report on Monday, August 5th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Itron from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Itron in a report on Friday, September 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Itron from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.92.

Insider Transactions at Itron

In other news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 37,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.83, for a total value of $3,931,125.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 205,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,519,083.08. This trade represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joan S. Hooper sold 509 shares of Itron stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.15, for a total transaction of $51,994.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,389,326.70. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 43,276 shares of company stock worth $4,517,947. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Itron Price Performance

Shares of ITRI stock opened at $114.90 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $107.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 3.36 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Itron, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.96 and a 1-year high of $124.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.46.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $615.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $596.41 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Itron, Inc. will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itron 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.