Avista (NYSE:AVA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $37.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $38.54 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.17. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 0.47. Avista has a 12-month low of $30.53 and a 12-month high of $39.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. Avista’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Avista will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.84%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avista by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,772,000 after purchasing an additional 33,431 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,916,000 after acquiring an additional 13,445 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,904,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,701,000 after acquiring an additional 174,951 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Avista by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,103,000 after acquiring an additional 61,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Avista by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,051,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,597,000 after purchasing an additional 55,697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

About Avista

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.