Short Interest in IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) Decreases By 9.5%

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 662,600 shares, a decrease 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 currently 2.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDACORP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of IDACORP by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 950,206 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,981,000 after purchasing an additional 36,063 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in IDACORP by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,992 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in IDACORP by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,184 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,803,000 after buying an additional 12,944 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in IDACORP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of IDACORP by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,389,823 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $246,367,000 after purchasing an additional 359,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IDA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on IDACORP from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America upgraded IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho upgraded IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on IDACORP in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.83.

IDACORP Trading Up 1.1 %

IDA stock traded up $1.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $118.51. 223,686 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 349,378. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.60. IDACORP has a 1 year low of $86.43 and a 1 year high of $119.65. The company has a 50-day moving average of $105.52 and a 200-day moving average of $99.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.70.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) last issued 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Analysts predict that IDACORP will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDACORP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from IDACORP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.