State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $1.97 Million Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 874 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.06% of Avista worth $1,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Avista in the 1st quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 256.6% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. This trade represents a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of Avista stock opened at $37.75 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. Avista’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.