Insider Selling: Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) VP Sells 1,024 Shares of Stock

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.82, for a total value of $38,727.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,515 shares in the company, valued at $435,497.30. This trade represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.28. 592,940 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 609,380. Avista Co. has a 1-year low of $33.45 and a 1-year high of $43.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.07). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $603.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Avista's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's payout ratio is presently 83.76%.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVA. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avista by 2,474.1% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Avista by 296.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 252.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 916 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Avista during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company's stock.

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.