Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Sold by Peregrine Capital Management LLC

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 24.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 208,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 68,674 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.27% of Avista worth $7,439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Avista by 231.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,048,535 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $511,460,000 after buying an additional 8,410,300 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Avista by 624.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,945,495 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $130,603,000 after buying an additional 2,539,057 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Avista by 163.8% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,459,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $61,949,000 after buying an additional 906,050 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Avista during the fourth quarter worth about $30,554,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 2,186.8% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 534,545 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $23,702,000 after purchasing an additional 511,170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVA has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Avista from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Guggenheim raised Avista from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $33.50.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA stock traded down $1.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.87. 556,499 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 600,102. Avista Co. has a 12-month low of $30.53 and a 12-month high of $45.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 0.50. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $33.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.06). Avista had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 9.77%. The business had revenue of $504.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. Avista's quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This is an increase from Avista's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.61%. Avista's dividend payout ratio is 85.20%.

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.