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

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) was the target of a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 662,600 shares, a drop of 9.5% from the October 15th total of 732,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 307,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDACORP

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in IDACORP by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 950,206 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $97,981,000 after acquiring an additional 36,063 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in IDACORP by 0.8% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,992 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 12,944 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in IDACORP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in IDACORP by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,389,823 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $246,367,000 after acquiring an additional 359,553 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of IDACORP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of IDACORP in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IDACORP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.83.

IDACORP Price Performance

IDACORP stock traded down $1.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $117.36. The stock had a trading volume of 16,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 347,881. IDACORP has a one year low of $86.43 and a one year high of $119.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $105.52 and its 200 day moving average is $99.92.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.17 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $528.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.39 million. IDACORP had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 9.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IDACORP will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDACORP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is an increase from IDACORP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.82%.

IDACORP Company Profile

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.