Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 223 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 223 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,233,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire in the 1st quarter valued at $2,401,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 197.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,850,000 after purchasing an additional 107,662 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Spire by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 374,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,364,000 after purchasing an additional 61,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after purchasing an additional 65,486 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Spire news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at $638,470. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on SR. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.50.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $66.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.54 and a 200 day moving average of $62.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.77 and a twelve month high of $68.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. The business had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.42) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 76.26%.

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.