Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Cuts Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL reduced its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 127,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 27,170 shares during the quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL owned approximately 0.16% of Avista worth $4,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 2,474.1% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Avista by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Down 0.4 %

AVA stock opened at $41.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.45 and a 52 week high of $43.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.44 and a 200 day moving average of $38.30.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.74%. Avista’s payout ratio is 86.34%.

Avista 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.