Avista (NYSE:AVA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Mizuho

Avista (NYSE:AVA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Mizuho from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $36.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $32.00. Mizuho’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 3.49% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Avista Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE AVA opened at $37.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista has a 52 week low of $30.53 and a 52 week high of $44.76.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avista by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,526,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $340,460,000 after acquiring an additional 96,642 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Avista by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,539,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,519,000 after purchasing an additional 26,454 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC increased its stake in Avista by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,822,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,987,000 after purchasing an additional 303,581 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Avista by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,820,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,944,000 after buying an additional 212,343 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 49.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,179,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,196,000 after buying an additional 390,457 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.