FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Decreases Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lessened its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Avista were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVA. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in Avista by 0.4% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,916,000 after purchasing an additional 13,445 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Avista by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,857,000 after purchasing an additional 27,328 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,103,000 after buying an additional 61,466 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Avista by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,597,000 after buying an additional 26,706 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Avista by 9.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,295,000 after buying an additional 34,829 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avista Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Avista stock opened at $37.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.56.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

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.