Avista Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 (NYSE:AVA)

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd.

Avista has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. Avista has a dividend payout ratio of 73.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Avista to earn $2.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 71.2%.

Avista Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AVA opened at $38.52 on Wednesday. Avista has a 12 month low of $30.53 and a 12 month high of $39.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AVA. Mizuho raised Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other Avista news, VP Latisha Diane Hill sold 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total value of $61,557.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,085 shares in the company, valued at $401,387.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Latisha Diane Hill sold 1,700 shares of Avista stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total transaction of $61,557.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,085 shares in the company, valued at $401,387.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jason R. Thackston sold 2,500 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total value of $92,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 32,506 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,071.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,916 shares of company stock worth $215,268 in the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.