Dean Investment Associates LLC Decreases Position in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Dean Investment Associates LLC lessened its stake in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 55.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,903 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 51,379 shares during the quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC owned about 0.05% of Avista worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Avista by 2,474.1% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Avista by 117.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE AVA traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $41.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 137,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,380. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.45 and a 52 week high of $43.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. Equities analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Avista's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

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.