Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 378,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 32,278 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $14,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVA. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,772,000 after acquiring an additional 33,431 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 1st quarter worth $264,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 69,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,441,000 after acquiring an additional 4,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 1st quarter worth $73,000. 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 for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $38.74 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.29. 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 Co. has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $39.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.