Prudential Financial Inc. Buys 94,460 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,019,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 94,460 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $37,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Avista by 43.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

AVA opened at $39.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.72. Avista Co. has a one year low of $33.00 and a one year 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 the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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 report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.