First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Increases Stock Position in Avista Corporation $AVA

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 206.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,990 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 12,119 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Avista were worth $683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avista in the second quarter valued at $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Avista by 252.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Avista during the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Avista during the first quarter valued at about $102,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the first quarter worth about $134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Avista Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of AVA opened at $39.14 on Friday. Avista Corporation has a 1-year low of $34.80 and a 1-year high of $43.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $37.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.13.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.11). Avista had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 9.13%.The company had revenue of $400.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Avista's payout ratio is 88.29%.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other Avista news, VP David J. Meyer sold 1,367 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.72, for a total value of $50,196.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at $308,227.68. This represents a 14.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Bryan Alden Cox purchased 3,671 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $35.55 per share, for a total transaction of $130,504.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $355,108.95. The trade was a 58.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Avista in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Avista has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.00.

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.

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