Sowell Financial Services LLC Buys Shares of 7,916 Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA)

Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $375,855,000 after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,967,172 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $108,687,000 after purchasing an additional 53,222 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Avista by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,016,000 after acquiring an additional 274,270 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Avista by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,908,000 after purchasing an additional 24,981 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,838 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,401,000 after acquiring an additional 168,648 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total transaction of $38,727.68. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avista Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE AVA traded down $0.47 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.57. The company had a trading volume of 579,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,794. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Avista Corporation has a one year low of $33.45 and a one year high of $43.09. The company's fifty day moving average is $39.16 and its 200-day moving average is $38.45. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.41.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.07). Avista had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 7.28%. The firm had revenue of $603.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $636.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.