Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys New Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 214,983 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,875,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC owned 0.27% of Avista as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Avista by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its position in Avista by 309.3% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Avista stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.00. 877,163 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 474,751. Avista Co. has a 1 year low of $33.00 and a 1 year high of $40.23. The stock's fifty day moving average is $37.48 and its 200 day moving average is $37.67. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $487.48 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.90%. This is a positive change from Avista's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

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.