Avista (NYSE:AVA) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Avista (NYSE:AVA) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $2.36-2.56 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.41. Avista also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 2.360-2.560 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim raised Avista from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised Avista from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $33.50.

Avista Price Performance

Avista stock opened at $35.98 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Avista has a 52-week low of $30.53 and a 52-week high of $44.76. The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.30 and its 200 day moving average is $34.29.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.06). Avista had a net margin of 9.77% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $504.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.78 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avista will post 2.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.28%. Avista’s payout ratio is currently 85.20%.

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.