Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Sells 5,828 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC cut its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,828 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC owned about 0.15% of Avista worth $4,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 202.2% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 57,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 38,550 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista by 9.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,295,000 after buying an additional 34,829 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Avista by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,857,000 after buying an additional 27,328 shares in the last quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter worth $1,340,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the second quarter worth $5,638,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avista Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $36.49 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.71. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $31.91 and a 12-month high of $39.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.21%. Avista’s payout ratio is presently 75.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday.

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.