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

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th.

Avista has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 22 years. Avista has a payout ratio of 74.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Avista stock traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.75. 476,353 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 517,916. Avista has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,307.52. This represents a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.