Avista (NYSE:AVA) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Thursday.

Separately, Guggenheim raised Avista from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.00.

Avista Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE AVA opened at $37.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.97. Avista has a one year low of $30.53 and a one year high of $44.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $594.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. Avista’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avista will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Avista

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the 4th quarter valued at about $935,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Avista during the third quarter worth approximately $966,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in Avista during the third quarter worth approximately $3,175,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 30.4% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 74,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after buying an additional 17,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avista by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,820,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,944,000 after acquiring an additional 212,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Company 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.