Insider Selling: Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Sells 2,298 Shares of Stock

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Avista Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Avista stock opened at $39.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. Avista Co. has a 1 year low of $33.00 and a 1 year high of $40.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.65. 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). The company had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.02%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 86.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of Avista

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Avista by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,855,000 after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,967,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,687,000 after acquiring an additional 53,222 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Avista by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,857,000 after acquiring an additional 27,328 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Avista by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,016,000 after acquiring an additional 274,270 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Avista by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,908,000 after purchasing an additional 24,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

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.