Inspire Advisors LLC Grows Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,158 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the second quarter valued at $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the second quarter valued at $154,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Up 0.4 %

Avista stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.06. The stock had a trading volume of 73,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 517,825. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $31.09 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.85.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.92%.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $208,307.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.