State Street Corp Sells 86,748 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

State Street Corp cut its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,678,280 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 86,748 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 5.91% of Avista worth $181,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew 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 valued at $122,916,000 after acquiring an additional 13,445 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Avista by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,103,000 after acquiring an additional 61,466 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 26,706 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Avista by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 692,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $23,983,000 after acquiring an additional 83,127 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 34,829 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.53. 184,288 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 513,804. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.48. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $31.91 and a twelve month 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.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.20%. Avista's payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Monday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.75.

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.