Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Avista (NYSE:AVA)

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 7.50% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.75.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $37.21 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Avista’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Avista will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Avista during the third quarter worth about $155,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Avista during the third quarter worth about $200,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Avista by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,857,000 after buying an additional 27,328 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Avista by 290.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 137,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,325,000 after buying an additional 102,231 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Avista by 13.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 57,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,221,000 after buying an additional 6,971 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.