Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Bought by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 4th, 2023

Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating) by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 515,506 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 238,745 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.70% of Avista worth $19,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 604.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 857,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,292,000 after acquiring an additional 735,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,311,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,522,000 after acquiring an additional 704,947 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 189.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 641,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,749,000 after acquiring an additional 419,864 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 107.7% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 401,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,461,000 after acquiring an additional 208,099 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its stake in shares of Avista by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,504,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,456,000 after acquiring an additional 198,482 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other news, VP Bryan Alden Cox sold 2,542 shares of Avista stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total transaction of $104,984.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,698 shares in the company, valued at $194,027.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on AVA shares. Mizuho cut shares of Avista from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Avista from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE:AVA opened at $41.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.83. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $35.72 and a twelve month high of $46.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.49.

Avista (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $496.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $371.59 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 6.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 16th. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.43%. Avista’s payout ratio is 86.79%.

Avista Company Profile

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Avista Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas utility business. It operates through the Avista Utilities, and Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P) segments. The Avista Utilities segment includes electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Northeastern and Southwestern Oregon.