Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 30.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 210,480 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 93,372 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.27% of Avista worth $7,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Avista by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other Avista 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Avista Stock Performance

Avista stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.81. 539,863 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 573,129. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Avista Co. has a 12 month low of $33.45 and a 12 month high of $43.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.33.

Avista (NYSE:AVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $517.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Avista's payout ratio is 86.34%.

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.