First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Grows Stock Position in Avista Corporation $AVA

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) by 206.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,119 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Avista were worth $683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Avista by 8.9% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Avista during the 2nd quarter valued at $960,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Avista during the 2nd quarter valued at $628,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 112.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 9,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Avista by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 29,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other news, SVP Bryan Alden Cox acquired 3,671 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $35.55 per share, for a total transaction of $130,504.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president owned 9,989 shares in the company, valued at $355,108.95. This trade represents a 58.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David J. Meyer sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total value of $50,196.24. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $308,227.68. This represents a 14.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avista Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of AVA opened at $39.14 on Friday. Avista Corporation has a 1-year low of $34.80 and a 1-year high of $43.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.39.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $400.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.06 million. Avista had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 9.13%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 88.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AVA. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avista in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Avista has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.00.

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.