Jones Financial Companies Lllp Invests $176,000 in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 4,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $176,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,076,000. RWC Asset Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,726,000 after acquiring an additional 222,500 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,401,000 after acquiring an additional 168,648 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,838,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,963,000. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Avista Stock Up 2.5 %

AVA stock opened at $40.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.67. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $33.00 and a 1-year high of $40.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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.