Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New $506,000 Investment in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $506,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 26.8% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its stake in Spire by 28.6% in the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Spire by 4.5% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on SR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price 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. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,899.02. This represents a 6.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of SR stock opened at $67.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $68.02.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $3.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.74%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 72.60%.

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.