Aigen Investment Management LP Invests $1.58 Million in Avista Corporation $AVA

Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 40,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,575,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,933,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,382,000 after buying an additional 98,220 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,305,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $204,465,000 after buying an additional 45,696 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,985,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,550,000 after buying an additional 7,793 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,807,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,657,000 after buying an additional 257,834 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,511,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,243,000 after buying an additional 4,506 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AVA shares. Zacks Research upgraded Avista from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Avista from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Avista from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Avista in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

Avista Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of AVA opened at $42.48 on Friday. Avista Corporation has a one year low of $35.50 and a one year high of $43.50. The company has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.06. Avista had a net margin of 10.75% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $570.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Avista has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.520-2.720 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Avista Corporation will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 78.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Wayne O. Manuel sold 1,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.98, for a total transaction of $65,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $431,150.58. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

About Avista

Avista Corporation operates as an integrated energy company providing electric and natural gas delivery services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest. Through its regulated utility operations, the company maintains and upgrades an extensive transmission and distribution network, delivering reliable energy to approximately 400,000 electric customers and 324,000 natural gas customers across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. In addition to its core utility business, Avista invests in owned generation assets, including hydroelectric, natural gas–fired, coal and wind facilities, to support system reliability and long-term supply planning.

Founded in 1889 as the Spokane and Inland Empire Water Power Company, the business adopted the Avista name in 1999 to reflect its growing energy portfolio and strategic focus on innovation.