Invesco Ltd. Trims Position in Avista Corporation $AVA

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Avista Corporation by 14.6%, selling 186,819 shares, leaving it with approximately 1.36% ownership worth $45.9 million.
• Avista reported a quarterly EPS of $0.17, missing expectations, with revenues of $400 million, which also fell short of estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.49 per share with a yield of 5.3%, scheduled for payment on September 15th.

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,096,713 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 186,819 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.36% of Avista worth $45,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Avista by 19.2% during the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 134,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,635,000 after purchasing an additional 21,654 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Avista by 1.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,266,825 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $53,042,000 after purchasing an additional 13,545 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Avista by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,360,222 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $433,782,000 after purchasing an additional 99,365 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Avista by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,382,168 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,871,000 after buying an additional 103,844 shares during the period. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth approximately $102,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Avista

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 shares were sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total value of $38,727.68. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $435,497.30. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Avista Stock Down 0.9%

AVA traded down $0.3520 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $36.7980. 615,787 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 740,817. Avista Corporation has a 12-month low of $34.80 and a 12-month high of $43.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $37.63 and a 200 day moving average of $38.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). Avista had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business had revenue of $400.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $416.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

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

Avista Company 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.