Foundry Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 260,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,076,000. Foundry Partners LLC owned approximately 0.33% of Avista at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Avista by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $334,772,000 after purchasing an additional 33,431 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 13,445 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Avista by 4.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $53,103,000 after buying an additional 61,466 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased 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 purchasing an additional 83,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in Avista by 1.9% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 426,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,919,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

Avista Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $38.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $37.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.30. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.47.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.70%.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. This trade represents a 30.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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