EntryPoint Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 14,134 Avista Corporation $AVA

Key Points

• EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Avista Corporation, purchasing 14,134 shares valued at approximately $592,000.
• Avista Corporation reported disappointing earnings**, with a Q2 EPS of $0.17, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.49 per share, equating to an annualized dividend yield of 5.3%, set to be paid on September 15th.

EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,134 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $592,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,360,222 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $433,782,000 after purchasing an additional 99,365 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Avista by 1.8% in the 4th 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 period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,382,168 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,871,000 after buying an additional 103,844 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Avista by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,266,825 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $53,042,000 after buying an additional 13,545 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Avista by 8.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $435,497.30. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $37.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 98,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,036. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Avista Corporation has a one year low of $34.80 and a one year high of $43.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.40. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $37.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.80.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $400.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.06 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 6.86%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. Avista's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.29%.

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.