Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Decreases Stake in IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA)

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. lessened its holdings in IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,954 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 916 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s holdings in IDACORP were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Clean Energy Transition LLP purchased a new position in IDACORP in the second quarter worth $49,103,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 buying an additional 359,553 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in IDACORP by 30.8% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 576,136 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $53,667,000 after buying an additional 135,793 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in IDACORP by 5.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,656,697 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $170,789,000 after buying an additional 86,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in IDACORP by 34.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 201,545 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $18,774,000 after acquiring an additional 51,178 shares during the period. 89.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IDA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered IDACORP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on IDACORP from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $113.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.00.

IDACORP Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of IDA stock opened at $110.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. IDACORP, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.43 and a 52-week high of $120.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $113.01 and its 200 day moving average is $105.43. 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 released its quarterly 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). IDACORP had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The business had revenue of $528.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IDACORP, Inc. will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDACORP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.82%.

About IDACORP

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.