Invesco Ltd. Sells 11,742 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Invesco Ltd. lowered its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 706,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,742 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Spire were worth $47,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth $42,432,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Spire by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Spire by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,079,000 after buying an additional 138,971 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,277,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Spire by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,802,000 after buying an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.64.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $76.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.48. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $57.27 and a one year high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50.

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

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Spire’s payout ratio is 76.03%.

About Spire

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.