Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Short Interest Down 6.2% in October

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,280,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the October 15th total of 2,430,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 454,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Avista by 4.0% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Avista by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 7.3% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Avista by 6.9% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 8.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:AVA traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $38.35. The company had a trading volume of 35,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,755. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47. Avista has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Avista will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. Avista’s payout ratio is 75.70%.

About Avista

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.