Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Raises Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 289.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 20,927 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Avista were worth $1,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Avista during the 4th quarter valued at $27,139,000. Demars Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,855,000 after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Avista by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,016,000 after buying an additional 274,270 shares during the period. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP grew its position in Avista by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,726,000 after buying an additional 222,500 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Avista Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Avista stock traded down $0.77 on Monday, hitting $39.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,049,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 587,502. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $40.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.43. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Avista Co. has a one year low of $33.45 and a one year high of $43.09.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $603.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $636.30 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's dividend payout ratio is 83.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avista 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.