Legal & General Group Plc Sells 13,910 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 515,970 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 13,910 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.65% of Avista worth $18,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Avista by 2,474.1% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Avista by 117.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Avista by 296.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avista Price Performance

NYSE:AVA traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.80. The stock had a trading volume of 531,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,376. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $33.45 and a 12 month high of $43.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.49 dividend. This is a boost from Avista's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.69%. Avista's payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

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.