Quest Partners LLC Has $2.50 Million Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 5,516.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 63,437 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC owned about 0.08% of Avista worth $2,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AVA. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Avista during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth about $73,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Avista by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 256.6% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America assumed coverage on Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

Avista Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:AVA opened at $37.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.27. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.03%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.70%.

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.