Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 7,084 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA - Free Report) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,440 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,084 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.09% of Avista worth $2,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter worth about $27,139,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avista by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $375,855,000 after purchasing an additional 327,535 shares during the period. RWC Asset Management LLP grew its position in Avista by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 538,517 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $19,726,000 after purchasing an additional 222,500 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Avista during the 4th quarter valued at $7,875,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Avista by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,838 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,401,000 after purchasing an additional 168,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.24% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 669,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 574,193. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $40.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.38. Avista Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.45 and a fifty-two week high of $43.09.

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

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. This is a boost from Avista's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Avista's payout ratio is 86.34%.

Avista Company 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.