Continental Investors Services Inc. Makes New Investment in Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

Continental Investors Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 6,400 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ITRI. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 39.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 28,842 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 8,213 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,040 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Itron during the 1st quarter worth approximately $299,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 13,291 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Itron by 57.2% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,551 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 8,938 shares in the last quarter. 96.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Itron

In other news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 903 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $50,134.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,726.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 1,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.64, for a total transaction of $74,168.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,104,744.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 903 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $50,134.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,726.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,365 shares of company stock valued at $675,353. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ITRI shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Itron in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. TheStreet upgraded Itron from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Raymond James increased their price target on Itron from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Cowen increased their price target on Itron from $55.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Itron from $40.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itron currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.22.

Itron Stock Performance

Shares of Itron stock opened at $50.95 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.47. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of -231.59 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Itron, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.38 and a 52 week high of $60.61.

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $467.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.90 million. Itron had a positive return on equity of 4.41% and a negative net margin of 0.54%. Itron’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Itron, Inc. will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Itron Company Profile

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Itron, Inc is a technology and services company, which engages in the provision of solutions that measure, manage, and analyze energy and water use. It operates through the following segments: Device Solutions, Networked Solutions, and Outcomes. The Device Solutions segment includes hardware products used for measurement, control, or sensing that do not have communications capability embedded for use with its broader Itron systems.