Avista (NYSE:AVA) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Avista (NYSE:AVA) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. Avista had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 9.77%. The firm had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $469.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Avista updated its FY24 guidance to $2.36-2.56 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 2.360-2.560 EPS.

Avista Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of AVA stock traded down $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $36.45. The stock had a trading volume of 90,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 567,904. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.31. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 0.48. Avista has a one year low of $30.53 and a one year high of $44.76.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.475 dividend. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 85.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AVA shares. StockNews.com upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Guggenheim upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avista presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

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.