Mackenzie Financial Corp Acquires Shares of 17,716 Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 17,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in Avista by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 269,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,425,000 after acquiring an additional 82,500 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 140.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 92,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 53,983 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Avista by 109.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 34,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,177,000 after buying an additional 17,784 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Avista by 57.2% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 188,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,588,000 after buying an additional 68,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Avista by 383.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $967,000 after buying an additional 22,156 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Bank of America initiated coverage on Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock.

Avista Trading Up 0.4 %

AVA opened at $37.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a one year low of $31.02 and a one year high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.64.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s payout ratio is 78.84%.

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.