Avista (NYSE:AVA) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on AVA. Mizuho increased their price target on Avista from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 13th. KeyCorp cut Avista from a sector weight rating to an underweight rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, November 1st. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on Avista from $34.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, October 24th.

Avista Price Performance

AVA opened at $41.20 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.11. Avista has a 52-week low of $35.72 and a 52-week high of $46.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.53.

Avista (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.24). Avista had a return on equity of 5.78% and a net margin of 7.91%. The business had revenue of $359.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Avista will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 17th. Avista’s payout ratio is 98.88%.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Avista by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Avista by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 2.8% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.4% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 77,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,319,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Finally, Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 4.7% during the third quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,069 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.92% of the company’s stock.

About Avista

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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.