Avista (AVA) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. This segment also engages in the supply of electricity to customers in Montana; and wholesale purchase and sale of electricity and natural gas. The AEL&P segment offers electric services in Juneau, Alaska. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, thermal, wind, and solar generation facilities. As of December 31, 2023, it supplied retail electric services to approximately 416,000 customers; and retail natural gas services to approximately 381,000 customers. The company also operates five hydroelectric generation facilities with capacity of 102.7 MW; and four diesel generating facilities with a capacity of 107.5 MW. It also engages in venture fund investments, real estate investments, and other investments. Avista Corporation was incorporated in 1889 and is headquartered in Spokane, Washington.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $41.07 to $41.65
• 50-Day Range: $38.65 to $42.51
• 52-Week Range: $33.45 to $43.09
• Volume: 481,820 shs
• Average Volume: 572,882 shs
• Market Capitalization: $3.32 billion
• P/E Ratio: 16.46
• Dividend Yield: 4.74%
• Price Target: $37.33
• Consensus Rating: Reduce

Avista Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Avista scored higher than 69% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 42nd out of 93 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Reduce

Consensus Rating

Avista has received a consensus rating of Reduce. The company's average rating score is 1.67, and is based on no buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Avista has received no research coverage in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 10.00%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Avista are expected to grow by 10.00% in the coming year, from $2.30 to $2.53 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Avista is 16.46, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 21.76.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Avista is 16.46, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 15.68.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Avista has a PEG Ratio of 2.56. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Avista has a P/B Ratio of 1.29. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.51% of the float of Avista has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Avista has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.4.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Avista has recently increased by 19.19%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Avista is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 4.74%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Avista has been increasing its dividend for 23 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Avista is 86.34%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on EPS estimates, Avista will have a dividend payout ratio of 77.47% in the coming year. This indicates that Avista may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Environmental Score: -3.54

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.51% of the float of Avista has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Avista has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.4.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Avista has recently increased by 19.19%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.51

News Sentiment

Avista has a news sentiment score of 1.51. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.71 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 6 news articles for Avista this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

4 people have searched for AVA on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 300% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 2 people have added Avista to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -60% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Avista insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $89,048.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.96% of the stock of Avista is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

85.24% of the stock of Avista is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

AVA Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have AVA shares performed this year?

Avista's stock was trading at $36.63 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, AVA shares have increased by 12.8% and is now trading at $41.3230.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Avista's earnings last quarter?

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) released its earnings results on Wednesday, February, 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.02. The utilities provider had revenue of $517 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. Avista had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Avista's major shareholders?

Avista's top institutional investors include Bank of New York Mellon Corp (1.45%), Demars Financial Group LLC (0.85%), Principal Financial Group Inc. (0.56%) and Envestnet Asset Management Inc. (0.41%). Insiders that own company stock include Scott L Morris, Mark T Thies, Jason R Thackston, Donald C Burke, James M Kensok, Scott J Kinney, Latisha Diane Hill, Bryan Alden Cox and David J Meyer.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Avista?

Shares of AVA stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Avista own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Avista investors own include American Water Works (AWK), Waste Connections (WCN), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), The RMR Group (RMR), AUO (AUOTY), iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) and Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 2/26/2025
• Record date for 3/14 Dividend: 2/26/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 3/14 Dividend: 2/26/2025
• Dividend Payable: 3/14/2025
• Today: 5/02/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 5/07/2025
• Record date for 6/13 Dividend: 5/13/2025
• Dividend Payable: 6/13/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Electric & other services combined
• Sub-Industry: Multi-Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:AVA
• CIK: 104918
• Web: www.avistacorp.com
• Phone: (509) 489-0500
• Fax: 509-777-5075
• Employees: 1,770
• Year Founded: 1889

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $37.33
• High Stock Price Target: $39.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $36.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -9.7%
• Consensus Rating: Reduce
• Rating Score (0-4): 1.67
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.27
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 16.46
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.97
• P/E Growth: 2.56
• Net Income: $171.18 million
• Net Margins: 10.24%
• Pretax Margin: 9.46%
• Return on Equity: 7.83%
• Return on Assets: 2.56%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.05
• Current Ratio: 0.75
• Quick Ratio: 0.48

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.94 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.71
• Cash Flow: $6.19 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.68
• Book Value: $32.12 per share
• Price / Book: 1.29

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 80,289,000
• Free Float: 78,423,000
• Market Cap: $3.32 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.38