Avista (NYSE:AVA) Lifted to “Neutral” at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of Avista (NYSE:AVA) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. Mizuho currently has $36.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $32.00.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on AVA. Guggenheim upgraded Avista from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut Avista from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.00.

Avista Stock Performance

NYSE AVA opened at $37.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista has a twelve month low of $30.53 and a twelve month high of $44.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.47 and a 200 day moving average of $34.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avista will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 78.84%.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avista in the 3rd quarter valued at $828,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Avista by 24.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 156,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,080,000 after buying an additional 30,540 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Avista by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Avista by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 10,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Avista by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 48,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 4,850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

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.