Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Position Trimmed by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,210 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Avista were worth $2,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Avista in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Avista by 67.9% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Avista during the first quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avista Stock Performance

AVA opened at $38.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.55 and a 200-day moving average of $36.54. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $30.53 and a 52-week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

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.