Avista (NYSE:AVA) Upgraded to “Neutral” at Mizuho

Avista (NYSE:AVA) was upgraded by stock analysts at Mizuho from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $36.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $32.00. Mizuho’s price target points to a potential downside of 3.49% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of Avista stock opened at $37.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.36. Avista has a fifty-two week low of $30.53 and a fifty-two week high of $44.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09). Avista had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The firm had revenue of $594.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Avista will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter worth about $18,988,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $14,197,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Avista by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,179,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,196,000 after purchasing an additional 390,457 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Avista by 95.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 709,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,365,000 after buying an additional 346,540 shares during the period. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 20.0% in the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,822,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,987,000 after buying an additional 303,581 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

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.