Franklin Resources Inc. Has $1.24 Million Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 13.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 32,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,002 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVA. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Avista in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Avista by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Avista by 256.6% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $36.53 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.20%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AVA. Bank of America began coverage on Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Avista in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

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.