KBC Group NV Lowers Stock Position in Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI)

KBC Group NV lessened its position in shares of Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI - Free Report) by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,222 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 52,006 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.32% of Itron worth $15,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $527,488,000 after purchasing an additional 45,909 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew 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 valued at $96,106,000 after purchasing an additional 346,615 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake 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 valued at $59,760,000 after acquiring an additional 279,629 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Itron by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 11,918 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Itron by 90.7% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 96.19% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Itron news, SVP Donald L. Reeves III sold 4,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.00, for a total value of $425,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,643,169. This trade represents a 20.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas Deitrich sold 887 shares of Itron stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.15, for a total value of $90,607.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 205,276 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,968,943.40. This represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,276 shares of company stock worth $4,517,947 in the last ninety days. 1.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Itron from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Itron in a research report on Friday, September 27th. They set a "buy" rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Itron in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Itron from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on Itron from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itron has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $123.92.

Itron Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ ITRI traded down $2.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $114.90. 385,704 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 523,119. Itron, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.96 and a 12 month high of $124.90. The company's 50 day moving average price is $107.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.46. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.71. The business had revenue of $615.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $596.41 million. Itron had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 9.37%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Itron, Inc. will post 5.33 earnings per share 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.