Avista (NYSE:AVA) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Bank of America

Investment analysts at Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 2.12% from the stock’s current price.

Avista Price Performance

AVA opened at $37.80 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista has a 1 year low of $30.53 and a 1 year high of $39.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68 and a beta of 0.47.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.69 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Analysts forecast that Avista will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avista

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Avista in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Avista in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 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.