Joshua Diluciano Sells 4,675 Shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) Stock

Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) VP Joshua Diluciano sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total value of $174,097.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,358.16. The trade was a 35.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $37.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Avista Corporation has a 1 year low of $35.50 and a 1 year high of $43.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.54.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.20. Avista had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 11.83%.The company had revenue of $413.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $426.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avista Corporation will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 71.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Avista in the second quarter valued at approximately $605,448,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Avista by 3,930.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,841,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,165,000 after buying an additional 3,746,408 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,919,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,137,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,829,000 after buying an additional 582,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Avista by 37,219.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 541,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,855,000 after buying an additional 539,686 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Avista from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Avista from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avista has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

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.