Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 728 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Congress Asset Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 79,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 728 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Avista were worth $3,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in 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 worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Avista by 46.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 374,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,501,000 after buying an additional 117,814 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC bought a new stake in Avista in the third quarter worth $4,725,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the third quarter worth $33,390,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 23.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 26,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 5,035 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avista Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $36.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Avista Co. has a 1 year low of $31.91 and a 1 year high of $39.99. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.08.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business had revenue of $390.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.18%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.