Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Bought by MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 420,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,605 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. owned 0.53% of Avista worth $15,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 2,474.1% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 183.8% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’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 owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA opened at $38.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.43. Avista Co. has a 1 year low of $33.45 and a 1 year high of $43.09.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $603.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.30 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

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.