Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 476,984 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 9,236 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.90% of IDACORP worth $49,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of IDA. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 valued at $246,367,000 after acquiring an additional 359,553 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted 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 valued at $170,789,000 after purchasing an additional 86,642 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of IDACORP by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,445,991 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $134,694,000 after purchasing an additional 23,925 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in IDACORP by 19.0% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,114,475 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $103,813,000 after buying an additional 178,294 shares during the period. Finally, 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 valued at $97,981,000 after buying an additional 36,063 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on IDA. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on IDACORP from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho raised shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $102.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of IDACORP in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered IDACORP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, IDACORP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.00.

IDACORP Price Performance

Shares of IDACORP stock opened at $108.78 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.64. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $111.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.05. IDACORP, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.43 and a twelve month high of $120.42.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). IDACORP had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 15.35%. The business had revenue of $528.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that IDACORP, Inc. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

IDACORP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is a positive change 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.