Buck Wealth Strategies LLC Makes New Investment in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 115,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,224,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AVA. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Avista by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,857,000 after buying an additional 27,328 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Avista by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,597,000 after purchasing an additional 26,706 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,295,000 after purchasing an additional 34,829 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 46.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 374,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,501,000 after purchasing an additional 117,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 311,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,072,000 after purchasing an additional 62,615 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE AVA opened at $36.82 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.70. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $31.91 and a 12-month high of $39.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued 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 during 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%. Avista’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.70%.

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.