B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $201,000 in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,541,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Spire by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 627,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,121,000 after purchasing an additional 349,393 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Spire by 275.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 313,212 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,722,000 after buying an additional 229,771 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Spire by 153.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 184,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,509,000 after buying an additional 111,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Spire by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,127,000 after buying an additional 80,405 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Spire

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on SR shares. UBS Group started coverage on Spire in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho downgraded Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.83.

Spire Stock Up 1.0 %

SR opened at $60.73 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.77 and a 12 month high of $66.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.43.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.86 by ($0.41). Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be given a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

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.