Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 15,639 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Avista were worth $550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avista by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $334,772,000 after acquiring an additional 33,431 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Avista by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $122,916,000 after buying an additional 13,445 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in Avista by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,904,651 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $66,701,000 after buying an additional 174,951 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Avista by 4.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,103,000 after buying an additional 61,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Avista by 13.6% in the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 692,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $23,983,000 after acquiring an additional 83,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Avista
Insider Buying and Selling at Avista
In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. This represents a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Avista Stock Performance
AVA stock traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $37.75. The stock had a trading volume of 476,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 498,732. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.27. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47.
Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.
Avista Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.03%. Avista's dividend payout ratio is presently 75.70%.
About Avista
(
Free Report)
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.
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