10,715 Shares in Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) Purchased by Virtu Financial LLC

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has acquired a new stake in Avista Corporation, purchasing 10,715 shares valued at approximately $449,000 in the first quarter.
• Avista recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.49 per share, with a dividend yield of 5.2%, to be paid on September 15th.
• The company reported earnings results showing EPS of $0.17, which missed analysts' expectations of $0.28, alongside a revenue of $400 million.

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,715 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 35,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 7,753 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Avista by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 67,440 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,470,000 after buying an additional 7,084 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Avista by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 297,117 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,883,000 after buying an additional 31,406 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Avista by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 10,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Avista by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,016,000 after buying an additional 274,270 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Avista Price Performance

Avista stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.28. 577,991 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 814,847. Avista Corporation has a 52-week low of $34.80 and a 52-week high of $43.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $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. 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 (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.11). The business 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Avista Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.