Scott L. Morris Purchases 3,100 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Stock

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Chairman Scott L. Morris bought 3,100 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.39 per share, for a total transaction of $100,409.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 128,169 shares in the company, valued at $4,151,393.91. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Avista Stock Up 2.8 %

Avista stock opened at $33.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $32.27 and a 12-month high of $45.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.55 and its 200 day moving average is $40.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. Avista had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 6.18%. The company had revenue of $379.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $398.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.52%. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 95.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Delta Asset Management LLC TN acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Avista by 146.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 156.1% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Cutler Group LLC CA acquired a new position in Avista during the first quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Avista by 146.4% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. KeyCorp raised shares of Avista from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Avista from $35.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Avista from $38.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th.

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.