Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 223 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Spire by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 837,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,185,000 after acquiring an additional 19,032 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 66.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 8,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 3,402 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,541,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 153.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 184,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,509,000 after buying an additional 111,807 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,899.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of Spire 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Spire Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $66.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.52. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.77 and a twelve month high of $68.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.15.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. Spire’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.42) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SR. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.50.

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.