38,700 Shares in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 38,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,383,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Avista in the third quarter worth approximately $966,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new position in Avista in the third quarter worth approximately $3,175,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in Avista by 30.4% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 74,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,411,000 after acquiring an additional 17,373 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 13.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,820,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,944,000 after buying an additional 212,343 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 83.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,290,000 after buying an additional 46,298 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on AVA shares. StockNews.com upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Guggenheim upgraded 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.50.

Avista Trading Up 2.1 %

AVA opened at $35.08 on Monday. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $30.53 and a 52 week high of $44.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.12. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $504.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.78 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.475 dividend. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.20%.

Avista 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.