EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Has $89,000 Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 168.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,520 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $89,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Avista by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its stake in Avista by 309.3% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Trading Down 0.7 %

AVA stock opened at $39.73 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.83, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $33.00 and a twelve month high of $40.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $37.64 and a 200-day moving average of $37.68.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.