Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lessened its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 375 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,076,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Avista in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,838,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Avista in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,963,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC purchased a new position in Avista in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,725,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Avista by 46.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 374,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,501,000 after purchasing an additional 117,814 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Stock Down 0.3 %

AVA stock opened at $36.73 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.70. The company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.49. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Avista’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.70%.

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.