Choreo LLC Takes $203,000 Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in 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 during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Spire by 3.8% in the first quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its stake in Spire by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 64,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,999,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Spire by 4.8% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 5,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Spire by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.50.

Spire Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of SR opened at $66.77 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.77 and a 52-week high of $68.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $65.45 and its 200-day moving average is $62.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given 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 4.52%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

Spire Company 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.