KeyCorp Has Positive Outlook of Avista FY2024 Earnings

Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) – Analysts at KeyCorp boosted their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Avista in a research note issued on Monday, October 21st. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $2.43 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $2.42. The consensus estimate for Avista’s current full-year earnings is $2.40 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Avista’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.04 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $3.01 EPS.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.69 million. Avista had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS.

Separately, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Avista in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company.

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of AVA stock opened at $38.46 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.47. Avista has a 52 week low of $31.19 and a 52 week high of $39.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.32 and a 200-day moving average of $36.96.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avista

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,559,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,772,000 after purchasing an additional 33,431 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in Avista by 0.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,916,000 after purchasing an additional 13,445 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in Avista by 10.1% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,904,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,701,000 after purchasing an additional 174,951 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Avista by 4.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,103,000 after purchasing an additional 61,466 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its position in Avista by 13.6% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 692,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,983,000 after purchasing an additional 83,127 shares during the period. 85.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In other news, VP David J. Meyer sold 2,400 shares of Avista stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.32, for a total transaction of $91,968.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,436 shares in the company, valued at $208,307.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Avista Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.92%.

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.