Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Acquired by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank increased its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Spire in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the first quarter worth $35,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the first quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 26.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. Mizuho increased their target price on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.06.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of SR opened at $72.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.52. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $72.71.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $3.14 per share. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.31%. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 70.07%.

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.