Ieq Capital LLC Takes Position in Avista Corporation $AVA

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 94,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC increased its position in Avista by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 7,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Avista by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Avista by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Avista by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVA. Zacks Research upgraded Avista from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Avista from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Avista from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Avista from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avista presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.25.

Avista Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AVA opened at $37.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.78. Avista Corporation has a 1-year low of $35.50 and a 1-year high of $43.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.25.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.20. Avista had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 11.83%.The firm had revenue of $413.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $426.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Avista Corporation will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a $0.4925 dividend. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Avista’s payout ratio is 71.12%.

Avista Profile

Avista Corporation operates as an integrated energy company providing electric and natural gas delivery services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest. Through its regulated utility operations, the company maintains and upgrades an extensive transmission and distribution network, delivering reliable energy to approximately 400,000 electric customers and 324,000 natural gas customers across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. In addition to its core utility business, Avista invests in owned generation assets, including hydroelectric, natural gas–fired, coal and wind facilities, to support system reliability and long-term supply planning.

Founded in 1889 as the Spokane and Inland Empire Water Power Company, the business adopted the Avista name in 1999 to reflect its growing energy portfolio and strategic focus on innovation.