Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $508,000 Stock Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Everence Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,510 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 559.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

AVA opened at $37.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.36, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.29 and a 200 day moving average of $36.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.09 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.01%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.