Public Sector Pension Investment Board Trims Stock Position in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board significantly reduced its stake in Avista Corporation by 93.0%, now holding approximately $10.51 million worth of stock.
• Avista's quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.17, missing estimates, and the firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.49 per share yielding 5.2%.
• Institutional investors own 85.24% of Avista's stock, showing strong interest from the investment community even amidst fluctuations in share ownership.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board reduced its position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 93.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251,089 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,325,427 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.31% of Avista worth $10,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Demars Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the 4th quarter worth $21,047,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the 1st quarter worth $17,391,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Avista by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,016,000 after acquiring an additional 274,270 shares in the last quarter. ATLAS Infrastructure Partners UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,960,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avista by 317.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 217,113 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,953,000 after acquiring an additional 165,125 shares in the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total value of $38,727.68. Following the sale, the vice president owned 11,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at $435,497.30. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.28. 577,991 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 814,847. The company has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.40. Avista Corporation has a 52-week low of $34.80 and a 52-week high of $43.09. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $37.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Avista Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. Avista's 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.