Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 11,489 Shares of Avista Corporation $AVA

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) by 48.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,489 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Avista by 252.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, Vision Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $224,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total value of $38,727.68. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,515 shares in the company, valued at $435,497.30. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA stock opened at $37.04 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.78. Avista Corporation has a one year low of $34.80 and a one year high of $43.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.11). Avista had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The company had revenue of $400.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.29%.

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.