Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Buys New Shares in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $155,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Avista during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 46.9% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 256.6% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE:AVA opened at $35.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.73 and a 200 day moving average of $37.32. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVA. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Avista in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

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.