Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 7,526 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 465,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,526 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.60% of Avista worth $16,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Avista during the fourth quarter valued at about $935,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $966,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new stake in Avista in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,175,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in Avista by 30.4% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 74,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,411,000 after purchasing an additional 17,373 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 13.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,820,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,944,000 after purchasing an additional 212,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AVA opened at $38.42 on Friday. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $30.53 and a 52 week high of $44.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $594.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The company’s revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 78.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AVA. Mizuho raised shares of Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Guggenheim upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

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.