Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Purchased by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC grew its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 290.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,408 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 102,231 shares during the period. 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 the stock. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Avista during the second quarter worth $40,000. KBC Group NV raised 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 worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,953 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVA. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a "hold" rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avista currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of Avista stock traded up $0.33 on Friday, hitting $36.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,667,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,669. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.31. 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 (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released 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. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business 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 business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista's payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

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.