Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,013 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management owned approximately 0.07% of Spire worth $2,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Spire by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after buying an additional 71,798 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the third quarter worth approximately $787,000. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,067,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Spire by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 15,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Spire by 175.5% in the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 15,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 9,962 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, January 19th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $71.28 on Thursday. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.99 and a 52-week high of $73.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $68.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.52%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.85%.

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.