Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Purchases 509 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 431.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $43,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $393,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $971,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Spire by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 18,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the acquisition, the director now 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock opened at $75.98 on Tuesday. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.27 and a 52 week high of $76.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. On average, research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

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.