Peregrine Capital Management LLC Invests $6.51 Million in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 187,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,506,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Avista by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,772,000 after buying an additional 33,431 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,539,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,519,000 after purchasing an additional 26,454 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,904,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,701,000 after purchasing an additional 174,951 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,051,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,597,000 after purchasing an additional 55,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 95.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 709,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,365,000 after purchasing an additional 346,540 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVA. Mizuho raised shares of Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th.

Avista Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $38.64. 587,206 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 530,562. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.79. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $30.53 and a 12-month high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.69 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. Avista’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Bryan Alden Cox sold 1,716 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total transaction of $61,261.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,897.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.