Brandes Investment Partners LP Purchases 8,051 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,051 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Avista were worth $2,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Avista in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Avista by 67.9% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock opened at $38.75 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $30.53 and a 12 month high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.69 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the 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.