Quantbot Technologies LP Invests $612,000 in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank grew its stake in Avista by 309.3% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock opened at $40.04 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.75. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $33.00 and a 52-week high of $40.23.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

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.