Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Position Lifted by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 95.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,599 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 36,494 shares during the period. Avista accounts for about 0.5% of Versor Investments LP's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Versor Investments LP owned about 0.09% of Avista worth $2,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Avista by 44.2% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 269,120 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,425,000 after acquiring an additional 82,500 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Avista by 140.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 92,319 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 53,983 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 109.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 34,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 17,784 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Avista by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 188,124 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,588,000 after acquiring an additional 68,441 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 383.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $967,000 after acquiring an additional 22,156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avista Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $37.93. 424,806 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 516,409. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $38.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.75. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $31.91 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 15.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.