SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 79.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 20,259 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Avista by 3.8% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY grew its stake in shares of Avista by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 4,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Avista by 2.8% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 77,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 36,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AVA stock opened at $34.00 on Friday. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $30.53 and a 52-week high of $44.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.06). Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The business had revenue of $504.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Avista’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.59%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AVA shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avista presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

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.