Avista (NYSE:AVA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $40.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avista currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

Avista Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of AVA stock opened at $36.67 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Avista has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Avista will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in Avista by 202.2% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 57,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 38,550 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,295,000 after buying an additional 34,829 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Avista by 383.0% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $967,000 after acquiring an additional 22,156 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the second quarter valued at about $5,638,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Avista by 0.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,916,000 after acquiring an additional 13,445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s 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.