The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $30.48 Million Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 501,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,598 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.87% of Spire worth $30,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Spire by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Spire by 592.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 46,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after buying an additional 39,647 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Spire by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 14,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management lifted its position in Spire by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 36,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,293,000 after acquiring an additional 4,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 186,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,636,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,470. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $67.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $68.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The company had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.42) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 76.26%.

Spire Profile

Spire Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, retail distribution, and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and other end-users of natural gas in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Gas Utility, Gas Marketing, and Midstream. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas and related services; and transportation and storage of natural gas.