21,500 Shares in Avista Corporation $AVA Acquired by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 21,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 531.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,370,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,383,000 after buying an additional 1,153,389 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 8,255.8% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 504,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,117,000 after buying an additional 498,318 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,645,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,252,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,391,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista news, SVP Bryan Alden Cox purchased 3,671 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $35.55 per share, for a total transaction of $130,504.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,108.95. This trade represents a 58.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David J. Meyer sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total transaction of $50,196.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $308,227.68. This represents a 14.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avista in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Avista to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avista has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Avista Trading Up 0.2%

Avista stock opened at $38.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Avista Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.80 and a 1 year high of $43.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $400.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.06 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 6.86%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 88.29%.

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.