Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Has $1.23 Million Stake in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 70.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 78,006 shares during the quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Avista were worth $1,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Avista by 2,474.1% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Avista by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Avista by 296.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank grew its position in shares of Avista by 309.3% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Avista Stock Down 3.4%

NYSE AVA opened at $37.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.44. Avista Co. has a twelve month low of $33.45 and a twelve month high of $43.09. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $603.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.30 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is 83.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avista news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares in the company, valued at $485,886.25. This trade represents a 15.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.