Avista (NYSE:AVA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Avista (NYSE:AVA) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $594.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $469.34 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 9.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Avista updated its FY24 guidance to $2.36-2.56 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 2.360-2.560 EPS.

Avista Price Performance

AVA stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.31. The company had a trading volume of 514,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,879. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.40 and a 200 day moving average of $34.32. Avista has a fifty-two week low of $30.53 and a fifty-two week high of $44.76.

Avista Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AVA. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Avista from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho raised Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avista currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

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.