Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Short Interest Up 8.1% in December

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,950,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the December 15th total of 2,730,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 498,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Avista Price Performance

NYSE AVA traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.27. 434,591 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 494,163. Avista has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.58. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Avista will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is 75.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVA. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 96,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,552,000 after buying an additional 13,431 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of Avista during the fourth quarter worth $2,761,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Avista by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 16,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the 4th quarter worth $685,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Avista in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

Avista Company 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.