Avista (NYSE:AVA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Avista (NYSE:AVA) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $469.34 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Avista updated its FY24 guidance to $2.36-2.56 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 2.360-2.560 EPS.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.31. The company had a trading volume of 514,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,879. The business’s 50-day moving average is $34.40 and its 200 day moving average is $34.32. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.97. Avista has a 52 week low of $30.53 and a 52 week high of $44.76.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

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.