Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 420,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 34,829 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.53% of Avista worth $16,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter worth $73,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at about $154,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avista Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of AVA stock traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 476,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 498,732. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $37.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.26. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.03%. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

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.