Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 27,328 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,328 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.31% of Avista worth $70,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Avista in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Avista during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Avista by 46.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 256.6% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on AVA shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Avista in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Bank of America started coverage on Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avista has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.75.

Avista Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE AVA traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.19. The company had a trading volume of 1,667,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,669. The company's fifty day moving average is $37.67 and its 200-day moving average is $37.31. The company has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $389.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.25%. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.