JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 44,506 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 18.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 289,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 44,506 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.50% of Spire worth $19,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Spire in the third quarter valued at approximately $994,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at $575,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Spire by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 127.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,360,000 after buying an additional 61,357 shares during the period. Finally, Yaupon Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Spire by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 132,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,887,000 after buying an additional 19,190 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America started coverage on Spire in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR opened at $67.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $73.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $68.04 and a 200-day moving average of $65.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.57.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $3.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.67%. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.85%.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce bought 1,000 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at $178,504.25. The trade was a 70.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

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.