Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,950,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the December 31st total of 2,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 498,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of AVA opened at $36.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.49. Avista has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.99.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.10. Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $383.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Avista will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.70%.

Institutional Trading of Avista

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Avista by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Avista by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in Avista by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 25,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Avista by 7.3% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Avista by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 19,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

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.