Avista (NYSE:AVA) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.09 EPS

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

Avista Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVA traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 514,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,379. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.97. Avista has a 1-year low of $30.53 and a 1-year high of $44.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.48.

Avista Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Avista from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim raised shares of 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. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Avista from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday. One equities research 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 company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

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.