Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Spire by 26.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Spire by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 1.8% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 18,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in Spire by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 13,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,899.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $66.03 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.43. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $68.02. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.52.

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.