Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Sells 16,482 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 187,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,482 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $12,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the third quarter valued at about $39,228,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Spire by 197.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,850,000 after buying an additional 107,662 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Spire by 290.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 130,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,877,000 after buying an additional 97,358 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Spire by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,351,000 after acquiring an additional 72,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Spire by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 698,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,439,000 after acquiring an additional 69,020 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com lowered Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.93.

Spire Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $71.72 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.70 and its 200 day moving average is $64.40. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $56.36 and a one year high of $73.64. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $3.14 per share. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.51%. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.07%.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

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.