A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires New Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 36,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,340,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AVA. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $122,916,000 after acquiring an additional 13,445 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Avista by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $70,857,000 after purchasing an additional 27,328 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Avista by 4.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $53,103,000 after buying an additional 61,466 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Avista by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,299 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,597,000 after buying an additional 26,706 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avista by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $16,295,000 after buying an additional 34,829 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock traded down $1.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.27. 543,727 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 549,138. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.49. Avista Co. has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $39.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. Avista's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.39%. Avista's dividend payout ratio is 75.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Avista in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.75.

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.