Avista (NYSE:AVA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on AVA. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Avista in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Avista from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Avista from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.75.

Avista Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:AVA opened at $41.25 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.79 and its 200-day moving average is $39.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.83. Avista has a 52 week low of $35.50 and a 52 week high of $43.50. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.23.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, January 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter. Avista had a net margin of 9.83% and a return on equity of 7.29%. Equities analysts expect that Avista will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 82.77%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, SVP Bryan Alden Cox sold 1,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.18, for a total transaction of $71,038.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $337,552.18. This represents a 17.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Avista by 90.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Avista during the third quarter worth $26,000. Bayban bought a new position in Avista during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Avista during the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Avista during the third quarter worth $43,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Avista

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.