Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

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

Avista Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $36.76 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $36.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.71. Avista has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Avista will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.70%.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Avista by 202.2% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 57,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 38,550 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avista by 9.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,295,000 after buying an additional 34,829 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,857,000 after acquiring an additional 27,328 shares in the last quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Avista in the fourth quarter worth about $1,340,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Avista during the 4th quarter worth about $1,672,000. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.