Aigen Investment Management LP Makes New Investment in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of Avista by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 269,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,425,000 after purchasing an additional 82,500 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista by 109.6% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 34,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 17,784 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista by 57.2% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 188,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,588,000 after purchasing an additional 68,441 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Avista by 383.0% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 22,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Avista during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,638,000. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. This represents a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avista Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $37.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $37.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.25.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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