Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,470 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 2.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the 4th quarter worth $333,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Avista during the 4th quarter valued at $18,988,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avista by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in Avista by 404.4% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 38,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 31,044 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Avista Stock Performance

AVA opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.39. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, 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.

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

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.92%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $208,307.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista 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.