Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 34,829 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 9.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 420,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 34,829 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.53% of Avista worth $16,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Avista in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Avista during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Avista by 46.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Avista by 256.6% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA stock traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $36.53. 402,261 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 519,674. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock's fifty day moving average is $37.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.36. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.20%. Avista's payout ratio is 75.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AVA shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Avista in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.75.

Avista Company 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.