SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 45.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $54,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Avista during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $561,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 43,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Avista by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,401,000 after acquiring an additional 168,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,726,000 after purchasing an additional 222,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA opened at $39.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.65. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.00 and a fifty-two week high of $40.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. Analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 86.34%.

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.