Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $437,000 Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd cut its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 28.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,419 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Avista were worth $437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth $10,076,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the second quarter worth about $7,130,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,506,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,638,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,838,000. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Avista in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avista has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

Avista Stock Down 0.5 %

Avista stock opened at $36.53 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.33. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Avista’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.20%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

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.