Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Holdings Raised by Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.

Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 692,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 83,127 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.’s holdings in Avista were worth $23,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter worth about $2,841,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 42,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,524,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Avista by 156.5% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 26,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 16,096 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of Avista by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 21,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,051,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,597,000 after acquiring an additional 55,697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avista Stock Down 1.4 %

AVA stock opened at $38.41 on Friday. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $30.53 and a twelve month high of $39.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.96. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.47.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm 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 business posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th.

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.