Avista Co. (AVA) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 26th

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.49 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Avista has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Avista has a dividend payout ratio of 72.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Avista to earn $2.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 77.5%.

Avista Stock Up 1.1 %

AVA stock opened at $37.91 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista has a 52 week low of $32.70 and a 52 week high of $39.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 15.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.58 and a 200 day moving average of $37.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

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.