Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 58.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,780 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $736,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Avista in the second quarter valued at about $154,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock opened at $37.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.28 and a 200-day moving average of $36.87. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $31.09 and a 12-month high of $39.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. Avista’s payout ratio is 76.92%.

Insider Transactions 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 transaction of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $208,307.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company.

About Avista

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.