Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Sells 25,292 Shares of Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC cut its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 125,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,292 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Avista were worth $4,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in Avista by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,019,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,332,000 after purchasing an additional 94,460 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Avista by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,260,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,855,000 after buying an additional 327,535 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Avista by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 35,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 7,753 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Avista by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 126,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,617,000 after acquiring an additional 6,261 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Avista during the fourth quarter worth $612,000. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avista Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE AVA opened at $40.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $33.00 and a 52 week high of $40.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $38.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.75. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). Avista had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $517.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.48 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avista Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avista Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.49 dividend. This is a boost from Avista’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.90%. Avista’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Avista from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avista

In related news, VP Scott J. Kinney sold 2,298 shares of Avista stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.75, for a total transaction of $89,047.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,886.25. The trade was a 15.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.