Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 515,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,910 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.65% of Avista worth $18,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Avista by 2,474.1% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 117.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Avista by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Avista Stock Up 1.9 %

Avista stock opened at $41.24 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.97. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $33.00 and a 1-year high of $43.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38. 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 (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.34%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.