Moors & Cabot Inc. Has $347,000 Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 38,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in Avista in the 4th quarter worth about $333,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Avista during the 4th quarter worth about $18,988,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Avista by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 105,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,779,000 after purchasing an additional 7,649 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

Avista Stock Down 0.1 %

AVA opened at $38.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.47. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.53 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.36 and a 200-day moving average of $36.32.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.96%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.84%.

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.