Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Stock Holdings in Avista Corporation $AVA

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) by 2,942.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,834 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Avista were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AVA. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 105.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,137,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,829,000 after acquiring an additional 582,742 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Avista by 37,219.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 541,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,855,000 after purchasing an additional 539,686 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 1,723.9% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 442,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,728,000 after buying an additional 418,170 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 8.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,191,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $197,032,000 after buying an additional 398,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,533,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avista

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AVA. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Avista from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Avista in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Avista from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Avista from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Avista presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

Avista Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Avista stock opened at $42.02 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.34 and a 200 day moving average of $40.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.25. Avista Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $35.50 and a fifty-two week high of $43.50.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.06. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 10.75%.The company had revenue of $570.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Avista has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.520-2.720 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Avista Corporation will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.49%.

Avista Profile

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.