Short Interest in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Increases By 11.0%

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,530,000 shares, an increase of 11.0% from the October 31st total of 2,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 476,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AVA. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the third quarter worth $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Avista by 46.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Avista by 256.6% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Avista Trading Down 1.6 %

Avista stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $38.06. The company had a trading volume of 527,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,524. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.47. Avista has a 12-month low of $31.91 and a 12-month high of $39.99. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $38.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.34.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Avista will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is 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.