Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Purchased by Level Four Advisory Services LLC

Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,551 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC owned 0.07% of Avista worth $1,901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Avista by 296.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Avista by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its position in Avista by 309.3% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other 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 transaction 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 approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE AVA opened at $40.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.76. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.00 and a 52 week high of $41.01. 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 (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.48 million. Equities research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 4.79%. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 86.34%.

Avista 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.