Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 24,981 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,981 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.58% of Avista worth $45,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Avista by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA stock opened at $40.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.67. Avista Co. has a one year low of $33.00 and a one year high of $40.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.34%.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.