JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 22,485 Shares of IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 343,400 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,485 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.64% of IDACORP worth $35,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in IDACORP by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,174 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of IDACORP during the second quarter worth $496,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in IDACORP during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in IDACORP by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,114,475 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $103,813,000 after acquiring an additional 178,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in IDACORP by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 50,228 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,175 shares in the last quarter. 89.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IDA shares. Bank of America raised 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of IDACORP in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of IDACORP from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho raised IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.00.

IDACORP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IDA opened at $107.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.49. IDACORP, Inc. has a one year low of $86.43 and a one year 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.17 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $528.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that IDACORP, Inc. will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

IDACORP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. This is a boost from IDACORP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.82%.

IDACORP 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.