Corient Private Wealth LP Takes Position in Avista Corporation $AVA

Key Points

• Corient Private Wealth LP purchased 49,707 Avista shares during the second quarter, creating a stake valued at approximately $2.0 million, or 0.06% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 85.24% of Avista.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: Avista has a consensus “Hold” rating from seven analysts, with a consensus price target of $39.25. Recent actions included Barclays cutting its target to $37 and Mizuho raising its target to $42.
• Avista reported quarterly EPS of $0.43, beating estimates of $0.23, while revenue came in below expectations at $413 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4925 per share, equivalent to a 5.3% annualized yield.

Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 49,707 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,034,000. Corient Private Wealth LP owned 0.06% of Avista at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Avista in the second quarter valued at approximately $605,448,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,933,633 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $421,382,000 after buying an additional 98,220 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Avista by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,305,266 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $204,465,000 after buying an additional 45,696 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Avista by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,985,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $76,550,000 after buying an additional 7,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Avista by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,807,397 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,657,000 after buying an additional 257,834 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AVA. Barclays decreased their target price on Avista from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Avista from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Avista from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Avista from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other news, VP Joshua D. Diluciano sold 4,675 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total value of $174,097.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,334 shares in the company, valued at $310,358.16. This trade represents a 35.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avista Stock Down 1.1%

AVA stock opened at $37.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.00 and a 200-day moving average of $40.57. Avista Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $35.50 and a fifty-two week high of $43.50.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.20. Avista had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 11.83%.The business had revenue of $413.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $426.93 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. Avista's quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Corporation will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.4925 per share. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.12%.

Avista Profile

Avista Corporation operates as an integrated energy company providing electric and natural gas delivery services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest. Through its regulated utility operations, the company maintains and upgrades an extensive transmission and distribution network, delivering reliable energy to approximately 400,000 electric customers and 324,000 natural gas customers across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. In addition to its core utility business, Avista invests in owned generation assets, including hydroelectric, natural gas–fired, coal and wind facilities, to support system reliability and long-term supply planning.

Founded in 1889 as the Spokane and Inland Empire Water Power Company, the business adopted the Avista name in 1999 to reflect its growing energy portfolio and strategic focus on innovation.

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