Avista (NYSE:AVA) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

Separately, Guggenheim upgraded Avista from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Avista presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.00.

Avista Stock Up 1.4 %

AVA opened at $37.30 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.47 and a 200-day moving average of $34.37. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48. Avista has a fifty-two week low of $30.53 and a fifty-two week high of $44.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.97.

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

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AVA. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted 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 valued at $1,289,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 84,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,030,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its position in Avista by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 38,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Avista by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 21,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $698,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Avista by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.