WINTON GROUP Ltd Invests $1.19 Million in Avista Corporation $AVA

WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 30,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in Avista by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 319,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,295,000 after buying an additional 30,817 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 12,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 3,722 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Avista by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 54,769 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,111,000 after buying an additional 2,816 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Avista by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 7,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avista by 105.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,137,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,829,000 after acquiring an additional 582,742 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Avista from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 price objective on Avista in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Avista from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Avista from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Avista from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In related news, SVP Wayne O. Manuel sold 1,593 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.98, for a total transaction of $65,281.14. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $431,150.58. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avista Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of AVA opened at $42.02 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.24. Avista Corporation has a 12-month low of $35.50 and a 12-month high of $43.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $570.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.55 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 10.75%.The company’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Avista has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.520-2.720 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Avista Corporation will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.4925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $1.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 78.49%.

Avista Profile

Avista Corporation operates as an integrated energy company providing electric and natural gas delivery services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest. Through its regulated utility operations, the company maintains and upgrades an extensive transmission and distribution network, delivering reliable energy to approximately 400,000 electric customers and 324,000 natural gas customers across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. In addition to its core utility business, Avista invests in owned generation assets, including hydroelectric, natural gas–fired, coal and wind facilities, to support system reliability and long-term supply planning.

Founded in 1889 as the Spokane and Inland Empire Water Power Company, the business adopted the Avista name in 1999 to reflect its growing energy portfolio and strategic focus on innovation.