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

Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 5,516.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,437 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $2,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AVA. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the first quarter valued at $220,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Avista by 8.4% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Avista by 1.3% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 152,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Avista by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,772,000 after acquiring an additional 33,431 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Avista in the first quarter valued at $264,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at Avista

In related news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total value of $91,968.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. This trade represents a 30.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA stock opened at $37.75 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.92 and its 200-day moving average is $37.27. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 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.