Avista (NYSE:AVA) Hits New 52-Week High at $39.82

Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $39.82 and last traded at $39.63, with a volume of 87913 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Mizuho raised Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Avista Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.06.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly 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). Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. The business had revenue of $594.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. Avista’s revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avista

In other news, CEO Jason R. Thackston sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total value of $92,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,506 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,071.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jason R. Thackston sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total value of $92,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,506 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,071.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Bryan Alden Cox sold 1,716 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.70, for a total value of $61,261.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,897.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,916 shares of company stock worth $215,268 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Avista during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,988,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista by 95.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 709,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,365,000 after buying an additional 346,540 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,506,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Avista by 10.1% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,904,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,701,000 after buying an additional 174,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Avista in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,960,000. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.