Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Purchased by Creative Planning

Creative Planning raised its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Spire were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 64,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,999,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Spire by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 374,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,364,000 after buying an additional 61,564 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Spire by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 14,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth about $222,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped 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 upped their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.94.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $65.56 on Wednesday. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.15 and a 12-month high of $68.02. 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 company has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.82.

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

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.61%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,470. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.