79,486 Shares in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Bought by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 79,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,841,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Avista in the fourth quarter worth $8,094,000. Legato Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 49,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 9,298 shares during the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 24,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 0.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Avista by 12.4% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 109,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,538,000 after purchasing an additional 12,074 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVA has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. 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 note on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $34.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $30.53 and a 12 month high of $44.83.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $504.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.78 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.475 dividend. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.20%.

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.