Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys 300 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Avista by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in Avista by 7.3% in 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. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Avista by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 19,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 43.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Avista by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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 1.2 %

AVA stock opened at $36.80 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.59. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.53 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.33%. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

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.