Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Sells $89,047.50 in Stock

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $38.90. The stock had a trading volume of 303,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 531,883. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.00 and a 52 week high of $40.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.04%. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,139,000. Demars Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the 4th quarter valued at $21,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,855,000 after acquiring an additional 327,535 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,016,000 after acquiring an additional 274,270 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the third quarter worth about $10,076,000. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Company 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.