Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Declares $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th.

Avista has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. Avista has a dividend payout ratio of 74.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Avista to earn $2.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.4%.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.75. 476,353 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 517,916. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.47. Avista has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.25.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. Avista’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Avista will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Avista in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,307.52. The trade was a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.