Avista (NYSE:AVA) Issues Earnings Results

Avista (NYSE:AVA) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $594.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.34 million. Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Avista updated its FY24 guidance to $2.36-2.56 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 2.360-2.560 EPS.

Avista Stock Down 0.7 %

AVA traded down $0.26 on Thursday, hitting $36.38. 95,581 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 567,963. Avista has a 12 month low of $30.53 and a 12 month high of $44.76. The company has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 0.48. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.35 and its 200-day moving average is $34.31.

Avista Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

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.