Starboard Value Warns of Looming Election Contest at Insperity Inc. (NSP), Plus 3 Other Activist Moves

As revealed by a 13D filing, Scopia Capital Management LP, founded by Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich, currently owns 4.39 million shares of Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI), which represent 11.6% of the company’s outstanding common stock. This is up from the stake of 4.01 million shares disclosed in the fund’s previous 13D filing on the company, which was submitted with the SEC in mid-February 2016. In September 2015, Scopia Capital and Jerome J. Lande and Craig Rosenblum’s Coppersmith Capital Management joined forces to launch an activist campaign against the technology company; all parties involved in this play reached an agreement in December 2015 that stipulated the appointment of Jerome Lande and Peter Mainz to the company’s Board of Directors. It should also be noted that Jerome J. Lande and Craig Rosenblum will be joining Scopia’s team in the foreseeable future.

The technology company, which provides end-to-end smart metering solutions to electric, natural gas, and water utilities, has seen its shares advance by 18% since the beginning of 2016. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with stakes in Itron at the end of December 2015, with them having stockpiled nearly 20% of the company’s shares. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies was one of those firms invested in Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) at the end of 2015, holding a stake of approximately 399,000 shares.

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