Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,166,007 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 18,831 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 1.45% of Avista worth $48,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the 1st quarter valued at $331,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avista in the 1st quarter valued at $790,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 40,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,692,000 after buying an additional 10,400 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Avista by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 480,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $17,610,000 after buying an additional 147,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,855,000 after buying an additional 327,535 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total transaction of $38,727.68. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $435,497.30. This trade represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Avista Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE AVA traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $37.56. The company had a trading volume of 747,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 624,273. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.40. Avista Corporation has a 52-week low of $34.80 and a 52-week high of $43.09.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $603.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $636.30 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 7.28%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's payout ratio is currently 83.76%.

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.