JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 333,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 55,065 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.42% of Avista worth $12,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 4.0% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Avista by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 2.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 21,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Avista by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Avista by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Avista in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Avista Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of AVA stock opened at $35.27 on Friday. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $31.91 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.20 and a 200 day moving average of $37.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

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.