Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Purchased by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 29.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,593 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. RWC Asset Management LLP boosted its position in shares of Avista by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,726,000 after acquiring an additional 222,500 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 4th quarter valued at $7,875,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $43,401,000 after purchasing an additional 168,648 shares during the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,963,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the 4th quarter worth $4,224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE AVA opened at $39.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. Avista Co. has a one year low of $33.00 and a one year high of $40.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $38.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.73.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.34%.

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.