Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 16,042 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 29.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 70,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,042 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Avista worth $2,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 2,474.1% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 117.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 296.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 168.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,520 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total value of $38,727.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at $435,497.30. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of Avista stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.28. 592,940 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 609,380. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $33.45 and a 1-year high of $43.09. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $39.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.48.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.07). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $603.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.30 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Avista's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.26%. Avista's payout ratio is presently 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.