Yousif Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 924 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Avista by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,855,000 after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,967,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,687,000 after buying an additional 53,222 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,016,000 after buying an additional 274,270 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Avista by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,908,000 after acquiring an additional 24,981 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Avista by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,401,000 after acquiring an additional 168,648 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total transaction of $38,727.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,497.30. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Avista Stock Up 0.6%

AVA stock opened at $37.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.93. Avista Corporation has a one year low of $33.45 and a one year high of $43.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.45.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $603.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.30 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 7.28%. Avista’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. Avista’s payout ratio is 83.76%.

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.