Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $1.37 Million Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strs Ohio lifted its position in Avista by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Avista by 41,325.0% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 3,306 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 11.9% during the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Avista during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at $229,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AVA shares. Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $37.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.35. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $30.53 and a 1-year high of $44.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09). Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. The firm had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. Avista’s payout ratio is 78.84%.

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.