Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Avista (NYSE:AVA)

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 7.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA opened at $37.21 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista has a 12 month low of $31.91 and a 12 month high of $39.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a PEG ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Avista will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avista

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Avista during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Avista during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Avista during the second quarter valued at $40,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Avista by 46.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Avista by 256.6% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.