Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires 400 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 3.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 236,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,201,000 after buying an additional 8,748 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 208,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 34,762 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Avista by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,103,000 after acquiring an additional 61,466 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in Avista by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Avista in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $276,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avista Trading Up 0.6 %

AVA opened at $37.27 on Friday. Avista Co. has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $39.99. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Avista in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.75.

Avista 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.