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

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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.

Read Our Latest Analysis on AVA

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

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Avista (NYSE:AVA)

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