Swiss National Bank Trims Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 152,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Avista worth $5,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Avista in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Avista by 46.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in Avista by 256.6% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $38.53 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.99 and its 200 day moving average is $37.33. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. Avista’s payout ratio is 75.70%.

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.