Hennessy Advisors Inc. Purchases 400 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Avista by 0.4% in 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 buying an additional 13,445 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,857,000 after acquiring an additional 27,328 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Avista by 4.2% in the second 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 2.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,597,000 after purchasing an additional 26,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avista by 9.0% during 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Avista in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Avista Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AVA stock opened at $37.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. Avista Co. has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.13 and its 200 day moving average is $37.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. 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.