Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 5,035 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 23.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,035 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Avista in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the second quarter worth $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Avista by 559.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $154,000. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA opened at $37.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $31.57 and a 1-year high of $39.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.08.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $390.80 million during 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 was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.92%.

Avista 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.