Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $46.83 Million Stock Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 22.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,278,324 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 379,801 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 1.61% of Avista worth $46,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVA. Norges Bank bought a new position in Avista during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,139,000. Demars Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Avista in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Avista by 3.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Avista by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,016,000 after purchasing an additional 274,270 shares during the period. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Avista by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,726,000 after buying an additional 222,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,886.25. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avista Trading Up 1.5%

AVA opened at $38.93 on Monday. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.45 and a fifty-two week high of $43.09. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.45.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $636.30 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's dividend payout ratio is 83.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

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.

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