SG Americas Securities LLC Has $1.12 Million Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 35.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,351 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp bought a new position in Spire during the 2nd quarter worth $587,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in Spire by 63.2% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 64,058 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,858,000 after purchasing an additional 24,800 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in Spire by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the second quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Spire by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,598 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock opened at $63.90 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $54.15 and a one year high of $68.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.42) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SR. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,470. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,899.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

About Spire

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.