Rhumbline Advisers Increases Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 189,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,856 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.36% of Spire worth $12,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 2.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,755,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,813,000 after purchasing an additional 130,331 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,411,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,318,000 after purchasing an additional 136,434 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Spire by 70,596.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,264,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258,360 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Spire by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,350,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,082,000 after purchasing an additional 60,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its stake in Spire by 1.8% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,181,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,895,000 after purchasing an additional 20,887 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $60.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.34. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $75.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The utilities provider reported ($0.78) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $310.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $337.48 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.16%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.66) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 8th. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. TheStreet lowered Spire from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $71.00 to $66.00 in a report on Friday, September 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.88.

Insider Activity at Spire

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $60.95 per share, with a total value of $30,475.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,475. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $60.95 per share, with a total value of $30,475.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,475. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard acquired 1,000 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.70 per share, with a total value of $58,700.00. Following the purchase, the treasurer now owns 4,190 shares in the company, valued at $245,953. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 4,600 shares of company stock valued at $184,717 over the last ninety days. 2.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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 two segments, Gas Utility and Gas Marketing. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas.