Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Lowers Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 9.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,722,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 182,554 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 2.19% of Avista worth $59,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Avista by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,772,000 after acquiring an additional 33,431 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 26,454 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in 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 period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Avista by 95.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 709,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,365,000 after buying an additional 346,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Avista by 13.6% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 692,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,983,000 after acquiring an additional 83,127 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE:AVA opened at $38.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a 1 year low of $30.53 and a 1 year high of $39.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.32.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.69 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Bank of America initiated coverage on Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company.

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.