Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $767,000 Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 13.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Avista by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,855,000 after acquiring an additional 327,535 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,967,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,687,000 after buying an additional 53,222 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Avista by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,016,000 after buying an additional 274,270 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Avista by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,908,000 after buying an additional 24,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Avista by 16.6% during 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 buying an additional 168,648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 1,024 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $435,497.30. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of AVA opened at $37.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.41. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $33.45 and a 52 week high of $43.09.

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

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.76%.

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.