Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Avista by 46.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Avista by 256.6% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Down 0.6 %

Avista stock opened at $38.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.33. Avista Co. has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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