EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 1,520 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 168.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,520 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $89,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $837,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avista Stock Down 0.7 %

AVA stock opened at $39.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.64 and a 200-day moving average of $37.68. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.00 and a fifty-two week high of $40.23.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 86.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.