Syon Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Syon Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Avista by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 137,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,046,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avista Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AVA stock opened at $41.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38. Avista Co. has a 1 year low of $33.45 and a 1 year high of $43.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.