79,486 Shares in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Bought by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 79,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,841,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Avista as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 80.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 5,864 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in Avista by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 21,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Avista by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 37,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 8,137 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Avista by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth about $754,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AVA. Guggenheim upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avista has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA opened at $34.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.90 and a 200-day moving average of $34.06. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.50. Avista Co. has a one year low of $30.53 and a one year high of $44.83.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $504.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.78 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.53%. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Avista’s payout ratio is 85.20%.

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.