Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,950,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the December 31st total of 2,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 498,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Avista in the third quarter worth $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $36.59. The company had a trading volume of 361,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,743. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.49. Avista has a twelve month low of $31.91 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The company's 50-day moving average is $36.64 and its 200-day moving average is $37.69.

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

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.