IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $111.00.

IDA has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upgraded IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $113.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on IDACORP in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho raised IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $116.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on IDACORP from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

IDACORP Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE IDA opened at $109.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $112.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.59. IDACORP has a 52-week low of $86.43 and a 52-week high of $120.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.64.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.17 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $528.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from IDACORP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio is 63.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDACORP

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in IDACORP by 17.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,389,823 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $246,367,000 after buying an additional 359,553 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of IDACORP by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,656,697 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $170,789,000 after acquiring an additional 86,642 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of IDACORP by 1.7% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,445,991 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $134,694,000 after purchasing an additional 23,925 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IDACORP by 19.0% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,114,475 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $103,813,000 after purchasing an additional 178,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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. Institutional investors own 89.10% of the company’s stock.

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.