Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 19,768 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 358,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,768 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $13,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in Avista by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 13,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Avista by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,908,000 after buying an additional 24,981 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new stake in Avista in the fourth quarter valued at $176,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Avista stock opened at $38.83 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.35 and a 200-day moving average of $37.66. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $33.00 and a 52-week high of $40.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.