Wesbanco Bank Inc. Buys New Shares in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 30,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,051,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AVA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at $18,988,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Avista in the third quarter valued at $14,197,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Avista by 49.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,179,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,196,000 after purchasing an additional 390,457 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 95.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 709,707 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,365,000 after purchasing an additional 346,540 shares during the period. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in Avista by 20.0% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,822,276 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $58,987,000 after purchasing an additional 303,581 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $37.30. 514,268 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 466,379. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $30.53 and a twelve month high of $44.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $34.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.36.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista's dividend payout ratio is 78.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AVA. StockNews.com cut shares of Avista from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho raised shares of Avista from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of Avista from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.00.

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.

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