Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Sells 27,170 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL cut its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,098 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 27,170 shares during the quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL owned approximately 0.16% of Avista worth $4,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in Avista by 2,474.1% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avista by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Avista by 296.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Avista by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Avista by 43.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Avista Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE AVA traded down $1.01 on Wednesday, hitting $40.79. 168,214 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 577,771. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.58 and a 200 day moving average of $38.38. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $30.00 and a twelve month high of $43.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.05. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's dividend payout ratio is presently 86.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.