IFM Investors Pty Ltd Acquires 453 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Avista were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Avista by 7.3% during the first quarter. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC now owns 9,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Avista by 5.8% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Avista in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Avista by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,526,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $340,460,000 after purchasing an additional 96,642 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AVA shares. Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Avista Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE AVA traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $35.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 475,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,940. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.50. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.53 and a fifty-two week high of $44.83.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.06). Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $504.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.78 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Avista’s payout ratio is 85.20%.

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.