Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 26,154 Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 26,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $935,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Avista by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,429,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $305,229,000 after purchasing an additional 159,668 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Avista by 20.0% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,822,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,987,000 after acquiring an additional 303,581 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Avista by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,820,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,944,000 after purchasing an additional 212,343 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Avista by 49.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,179,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,196,000 after acquiring an additional 390,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Avista by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 996,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,249,000 after acquiring an additional 51,263 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.24% of the company’s stock.

Avista Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE AVA opened at $35.97 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.29. Avista Co. has a one year low of $30.53 and a one year high of $44.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 0.50.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.06). Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $504.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.475 dividend. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 85.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AVA shares. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.50.

Avista 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.