Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,466 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.96% of Avista worth $53,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in Avista by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 269,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,425,000 after purchasing an additional 82,500 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Avista by 140.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 92,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 53,983 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Avista by 109.6% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 34,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 17,784 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 188,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,588,000 after acquiring an additional 68,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 383.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $967,000 after acquiring an additional 22,156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Up 1.4 %

AVA opened at $38.72 on Friday. Avista Co. has a one year low of $30.53 and a one year high of $39.99. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.91%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Bank of America began coverage on Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

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.