D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys Shares of 5,099 Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 3rd, 2023

D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA – Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cambiar Investors LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 52,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after buying an additional 6,283 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at about $238,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Avista by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 229,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,184,000 after purchasing an additional 27,858 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Avista by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 26,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Avista by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares during the last quarter. 82.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avista Stock Down 1.1 %

AVA stock opened at $43.63 on Wednesday. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $35.72 and a twelve month high of $45.28. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

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

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 16th. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 86.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho downgraded Avista from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. TheStreet raised Avista from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other Avista news, VP Bryan Alden Cox sold 2,542 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total transaction of $104,984.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,027.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Avista 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.