Invenomic Capital Management LP Increases Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Invenomic Capital Management LP grew its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 66.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 230,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,668 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP owned about 0.29% of Avista worth $8,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Avista during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Avista by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its holdings in Avista by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Avista during the first quarter worth about $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Latisha Diane Hill sold 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total value of $61,557.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,085 shares in the company, valued at $401,387.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Avista news, VP Latisha Diane Hill sold 1,700 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total transaction of $61,557.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,085 shares in the company, valued at $401,387.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Bryan Alden Cox sold 1,716 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $61,261.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,897.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,916 shares of company stock worth $215,268. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avista currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE:AVA traded up $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $39.53. 517,936 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 536,056. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 0.46. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $30.53 and a 52 week high of $39.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.03.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.34 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. Avista’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.81%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.84%.

Avista Profile

Avista Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company. It operates in two segments, Avista Utilities and AEL&P. The Avista Utilities segment provides electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington and northern Idaho; and natural gas distribution services in parts of northeastern and southwestern Oregon, as well as generates electricity in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana.