Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 2,504 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its stake in shares of Avista by 309.3% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,392 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 46.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Avista in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock.

Avista Stock Performance

Avista stock opened at $36.23 on Thursday. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.70%.

Avista Company 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.