Avista (NYSE:AVA) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 713,739 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 42% from the previous session’s volume of 502,632 shares.The stock last traded at $40.39 and had previously closed at $40.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Trading Up 2.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.76.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.79%. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.34%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avista

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,855,000 after buying an additional 327,535 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,967,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,687,000 after buying an additional 53,222 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,857,000 after buying an additional 27,328 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Avista by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,016,000 after purchasing an additional 274,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,908,000 after acquiring an additional 24,981 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.