Point72 DIFC Ltd Lowers Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Point72 DIFC Ltd lowered its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 54.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,201 shares during the quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Avista were worth $303,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Avista during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Avista by 46.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in Avista by 256.6% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $37.25 on Friday. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $31.91 and a 12 month high of $39.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for 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%. Avista’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock.

Avista 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.