Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $404,000 Stock Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 165.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,055 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Avista were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVA. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista during the fourth quarter worth $935,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Avista by 156.5% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 26,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $943,000 after purchasing an additional 16,096 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Avista by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 38,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 42,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,524,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Avista by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 3,699 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AVA shares. Mizuho upgraded Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Avista Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.30. 514,268 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 466,379. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.53 and a fifty-two week high of $44.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.35.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.34 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. The business’s revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Avista Company 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.