Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 248,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 51,505 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Avista were worth $9,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avista by 117.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Avista by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its stake in shares of Avista by 309.3% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Avista Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $40.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $33.00 and a 12-month high of $40.23.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. Sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.