Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 1,300 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 269,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,425,000 after acquiring an additional 82,500 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 140.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 92,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 53,983 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 109.6% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 34,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 17,784 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 57.2% during 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 383.0% during 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. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Avista Stock Performance

AVA opened at $37.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.26 and its 200 day moving average is $37.08. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $31.57 and a 12-month high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.69 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.