IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA – Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,440,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the March 15th total of 1,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 332,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on IDA shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on IDACORP from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of IDACORP from $117.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of IDACORP from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised IDACORP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.50.

Read Our Latest Report on IDA

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDACORP

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IDA. Barclays PLC grew its position in IDACORP by 90.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,184 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,803,000 after buying an additional 12,944 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IDACORP by 46.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 2,930 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of IDACORP in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in IDACORP by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,341 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 4,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in IDACORP by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 145,791 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $15,030,000 after buying an additional 2,120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.10% of the company’s stock.

IDACORP Stock Performance

Shares of IDACORP stock traded down $2.93 on Monday, reaching $116.36. 279,933 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 328,745. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.56. IDACORP has a 1-year low of $90.64 and a 1-year high of $120.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.83.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The energy company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $398.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $403.21 million. IDACORP had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 15.83%. As a group, research analysts expect that IDACORP will post 5.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDACORP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.77%.

About IDACORP

(Get Free Report)

IDACORP, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, purchase, and sale of electric energy in the United States. The company operates 17 hydropower generating plants located in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon; three natural gas-fired plants in southern Idaho; and interests in two coal-fired steam electric generating plants located in Wyoming and Nevada.

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