Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Acquired by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 324,785 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 13,238 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.41% of Avista worth $11,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Avista by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Avista by 296.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of Avista by 309.3% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Avista Stock Performance

AVA stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.65. 3,993,864 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 493,745. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.00 and a 52 week high of $40.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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). Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is an increase from Avista's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. Avista's payout ratio is 86.34%.

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.