Legal & General Group Plc Sells 13,714 Shares of Avista Corporation $AVA

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 502,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,714 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.62% of Avista worth $19,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,933,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,382,000 after acquiring an additional 98,220 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Avista by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,191,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,032,000 after buying an additional 398,446 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Avista by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,506,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,967,000 after buying an additional 6,567 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Avista by 359.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,282,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,492,000 after buying an additional 1,003,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Avista by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,084,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,989,000 after buying an additional 117,385 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Avista in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Avista from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Avista from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Avista from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Avista from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avista news, SVP Wayne O. Manuel sold 1,593 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.98, for a total transaction of $65,281.14. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $431,150.58. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE:AVA opened at $40.50 on Tuesday. Avista Corporation has a one year low of $35.50 and a one year high of $43.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.40.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.06. Avista had a net margin of 10.75% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The firm had revenue of $570.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Avista has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.520-2.720 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Avista Corporation will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 19th. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

About Avista

Avista Corporation operates as an integrated energy company providing electric and natural gas delivery services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest. Through its regulated utility operations, the company maintains and upgrades an extensive transmission and distribution network, delivering reliable energy to approximately 400,000 electric customers and 324,000 natural gas customers across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. In addition to its core utility business, Avista invests in owned generation assets, including hydroelectric, natural gas–fired, coal and wind facilities, to support system reliability and long-term supply planning.

Founded in 1889 as the Spokane and Inland Empire Water Power Company, the business adopted the Avista name in 1999 to reflect its growing energy portfolio and strategic focus on innovation.