Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Bought by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,009 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Avista were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 309.3% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avista Stock Performance

Avista stock opened at $39.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.72. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.00 and a 52 week high of $40.23. 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 (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.