Natixis Advisors LLC Has $1.17 Million Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 3.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 30,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AVA. KBC Group NV grew its position in Avista by 46.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter valued at $334,000. Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Avista by 95.8% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 74,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,891,000 after acquiring an additional 36,494 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista during the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Avista during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America began coverage on Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of Avista stock opened at $38.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 75.70%.

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.