Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 7,055 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 165.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,055 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista during the third quarter valued at approximately $14,197,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Avista by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,179,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,196,000 after purchasing an additional 390,457 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Avista by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,822,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,987,000 after purchasing an additional 303,581 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 74.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 558,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,094,000 after buying an additional 238,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Avista during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,094,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avista presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE AVA traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.30. 514,268 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 466,379. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.47 and a 200-day moving average of $34.35. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $30.53 and a 12-month high of $44.76.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.09). Avista had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $469.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.84%.

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.