WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases 1,571 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,571 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Avista by 296.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Avista by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 309.3% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Avista Trading Up 2.1 %

AVA opened at $40.90 on Friday. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $33.00 and a 12 month high of $41.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.23 and a 200 day moving average of $37.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share 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 net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.79%. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.