Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $561,000 Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 15,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $561,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Avista by 3.3% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 30,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Avista by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 67,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,620,000 after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,133,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avista by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 9,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,597,000 after acquiring an additional 26,706 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of Avista stock opened at $39.65 on Monday. The stock 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 company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.70. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $33.00 and a twelve month high of $40.23.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). The firm 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.34%.

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.