Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 86,529 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 10,430 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Avista worth $3,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,855,000 after acquiring an additional 327,535 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,967,172 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $108,687,000 after purchasing an additional 53,222 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,016,000 after purchasing an additional 274,270 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,908,000 after purchasing an additional 24,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,025,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,548,000 after purchasing an additional 79,576 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total transaction of $38,727.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 11,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at $435,497.30. This trade represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.68. The company had a trading volume of 572,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,467. Avista Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.80 and a twelve month high of $43.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.40. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $38.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.61.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.07). Avista had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 7.28%. The company had revenue of $603.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Avista's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Avista Corporation 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, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.20%. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.76%.

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.