Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 121,926 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,725,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC owned 0.15% of Avista as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Avista in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the second quarter worth about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the first quarter worth about $73,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Avista by 559.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $154,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Avista Price Performance

NYSE AVA traded down $0.10 on Thursday, reaching $38.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 323,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,445. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $31.19 and a 52 week high of $39.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.97.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company's revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.92%.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.