IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) Short Interest Up 19.0% in March

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of IDACORP by 90.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,184 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,803,000 after purchasing an additional 12,944 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in IDACORP by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 2,930 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in IDACORP during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in IDACORP by 40.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,341 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after buying an additional 4,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in IDACORP by 1.5% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 145,791 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $15,030,000 after buying an additional 2,120 shares during the last quarter. 89.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IDA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of IDACORP from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim upgraded shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of IDACORP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on IDACORP from $117.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on IDACORP from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, IDACORP presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.50.

IDACORP Stock Performance

Shares of IDA stock opened at $117.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. IDACORP has a 12 month low of $90.64 and a 12 month high of $123.00.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The energy company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.07. The business 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that IDACORP will post 5.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDACORP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.77%.

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.