Bank of Montreal Can Decreases Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Bank of Montreal Can cut its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 799 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.06% of Spire worth $2,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the second quarter worth $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Spire by 1,318.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Spire by 26.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its holdings in Spire by 28.6% in the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Spire Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $70.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.49. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.36 and a 1 year high of $73.64.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $3.14 dividend. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 70.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.93.

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.