Barclays PLC Grows Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 290.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 137,408 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 102,231 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.17% of Avista worth $5,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVA. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 202.2% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 57,617 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 38,550 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avista by 9.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista during the second quarter valued at about $5,638,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 13,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 176,459 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,838,000 after buying an additional 41,431 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AVA shares. Bank of America started 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.75.

Avista Price Performance

AVA traded up $0.33 on Friday, reaching $36.19. 1,667,150 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 521,669. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $31.91 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $37.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.31.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista's payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

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.