Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating)'s stock price traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $40.95 and last traded at $40.86. 1,105 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 100% from the average session volume of 351,472 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.33.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Separately, Mizuho raised Avista from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday.
Get
Avista alerts:
Avista Price Performance
The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.53.
Avista (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). Avista had a return on equity of 6.80% and a net
margin of 9.53%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.
Avista Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 19th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 18th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Avista's payout ratio is 85.44%.
Insider Transactions at Avista
In other news, SVP Jason R. Thackston sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.37, for a total value of $54,212.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 26,570 shares in the company, valued at $1,152,340.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.94% of the company's stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Avista by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Avista during the 1st quarter worth $84,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Avista during the 2nd quarter worth $83,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Avista by 1,438.6% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Avista by 913.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036 shares in the last quarter. 83.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Avista
(Get Rating)
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.
Read More
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Avista (AVA)
- Will Wall Street's Enthusiasm About Datadog Lead To Big Gains?
- MarketBeat: Week in Review 9/19 – 9/23
- Why Does Tesla Stock Remain Resilient?
- 2 Semiconductor Stocks To Watch For Reversals
- Are Layoffs At A Small-Cap Tech A Bellwether For Housing Stocks?
Receive News & Ratings for Avista Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Avista and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
