New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 119,639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,381 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Avista were worth $4,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVA. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Avista by 231.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,048,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $511,460,000 after acquiring an additional 8,410,300 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 624.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,945,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,603,000 after buying an additional 2,539,057 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 163.8% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,459,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,949,000 after buying an additional 906,050 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Avista during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,554,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Avista by 2,186.8% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 534,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,702,000 after buying an additional 511,170 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avista Stock Performance

AVA opened at $34.00 on Monday. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $30.53 and a 52-week high of $44.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.04.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $504.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.