Arizona State Retirement System Has $758,000 Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Avista were worth $758,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 67.9% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the 1st quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Avista during the second quarter worth about $154,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA stock opened at $38.54 on Friday. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $30.53 and a 52 week high of $39.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on Avista in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

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.