BTC Capital Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

BTC Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Spire by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Strs Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other news, EVP Steven P. Rasche bought 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.83 per share, for a total transaction of $107,235.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 16,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $393,195. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $58.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.54. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.77 and a 52-week high of $66.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.51.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SR shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lowered shares of Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.17.

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.