Hsbc Holdings PLC Decreases Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 62.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 22,713 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVA. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avista by 95.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 709,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,365,000 after buying an additional 346,540 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Avista in the 2nd quarter worth about $7,130,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,506,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avista by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,904,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,701,000 after buying an additional 174,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Avista in the 4th quarter worth about $4,960,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America started 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 Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Avista stock opened at $38.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.54. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $30.53 and a 1-year high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $390.80 million for 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 for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. Analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

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