Scott Kinney, a vice president at Avista Corp (AVA), recently bought 1,250 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 21 percent, and came to a total cost just under $50,400.
This marks the first insider buy since September 2021, when a director made a small purchase of shares. Otherwise, company insiders have generally been sellers of shares on a steady basis over the past two years.
Overall, insiders own 0.8 percent of the regulated utility company.
Shares have gained just 2 percent over the past year, about in-line with Avista’s revenue growth. Meanwhile, higher energy costs have hit earnings, which slid 23 percent.
The utility trades at about 15 times forward earnings, a moderate discount to the overall stock market, reflecting the low growth prospects of a utility play.
Action to take: Investors may like shares for the dividend yield, which currently yields about 4.6 percent right now.
Avista is a dividend growth play as well, but that growth will likely be in-line with future revenue growth. That makes shares a buy under $40, and look to buy on further drops lower.
For traders, shares have been range-bound, and are near the lower end of their range. The September $40 calls are slightly in-the-money.
Last going for about $1.95, they can likely see mid-double-digit gains from any further rally in shares, no matter how slight.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.