Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 370 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Spire were worth $2,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the second quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the first quarter worth about $37,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the first quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Spire by 26.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.83.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR opened at $65.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.52. 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 $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.15 and a 1 year high of $68.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $414.10 million for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.42) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were issued 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 4.64%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 76.26%.

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.