Avista (NYSE:AVA) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Saturday . The stock traded as high as $41.01 and last traded at $40.90, with a volume of 2423822 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $487.48 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. On average, analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s payout ratio is 86.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total value of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Avista during the 4th quarter worth $27,139,000. Demars Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista during the fourth quarter worth about $21,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,855,000 after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Avista by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,016,000 after purchasing an additional 274,270 shares during the period. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Avista by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,726,000 after buying an additional 222,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

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.