Vanguard Group Inc. Has $375.86 Million Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.96% of Avista worth $375,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its position in Avista by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,726,000 after acquiring an additional 222,500 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,875,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Avista by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,401,000 after purchasing an additional 168,648 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,963,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the 4th quarter worth $4,224,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Performance

Avista stock opened at $42.51 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $33.00 and a 12-month high of $42.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.85.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

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.