Farther Finance Advisors LLC Buys 1,439 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Avista by 296.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Avista by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its position in shares of Avista by 309.3% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $40.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.68. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $33.00 and a 12 month high of $40.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. Analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.49 dividend. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% 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.