Benjamin Edwards Inc. Grows Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 23.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,855 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Avista in the first quarter worth $27,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Avista in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Avista by 67.9% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the 1st quarter valued at about $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, 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.

Avista Stock Performance

Avista stock opened at $38.30 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $30.53 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.47.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. Avista’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. Research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.84%.

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.