Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 452,975 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,295 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.56% of Avista worth $18,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Avista by 2,474.1% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Avista by 252.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position 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 valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of Avista in the 4th quarter valued at about $176,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Avista

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was 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 $435,497.30. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.98. 443,894 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 623,685. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.64. Avista Corporation has a 12-month low of $34.80 and a 12-month high of $43.09. The stock's 50 day moving average is $38.34 and its 200 day moving average is $38.58. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.40.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $603.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $636.30 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.28% and a net margin of 9.63%. Avista's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 EPS 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 dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. Avista's payout ratio is currently 83.76%.

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.