Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Sells $89,047.50 in Stock

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction 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 owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE:AVA opened at $39.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.20 and its 200-day moving average is $37.65. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $33.00 and a 52-week high of $40.21. 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 $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.83, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 86.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Trading of Avista

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in Avista by 2,474.1% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the period. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Avista in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Avista in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% 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.