Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases 9,418 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,418 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Avista by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,916,000 after acquiring an additional 13,445 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,103,000 after purchasing an additional 61,466 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Avista by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 692,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,983,000 after purchasing an additional 83,127 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avista by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,295,000 after purchasing an additional 34,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Avista by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 374,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,501,000 after buying an additional 117,814 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of Avista stock opened at $38.60 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. Avista’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors 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 4.92%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

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.