Avista (NYSE:AVA) Announces Earnings Results

Avista (NYSE:AVA) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $469.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Avista updated its FY24 guidance to $2.36-2.56 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 2.360-2.560 EPS.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of Avista stock traded down $0.26 on Thursday, hitting $36.38. 95,581 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 567,963. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 0.48. Avista has a 1 year low of $30.53 and a 1 year high of $44.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

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.