Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Holdings Decreased by Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 25.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 922,849 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 312,840 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 1.17% of Avista worth $35,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $122,916,000 after acquiring an additional 13,445 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,103,000 after purchasing an additional 61,466 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Avista by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,299 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,597,000 after buying an additional 26,706 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 13.6% during 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 buying an additional 83,127 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avista by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,295,000 after acquiring an additional 34,829 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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.

Avista Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Avista stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.02. The company had a trading volume of 567,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,795. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The firm's fifty day moving average is $37.99 and its 200-day moving average is $37.34. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista's payout ratio is 75.70%.

Avista 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.