Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Takes $8.28 Million Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 122,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,277,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.21% of Spire at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SR. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Spire by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 24,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Spire by 18.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 289,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,496,000 after buying an additional 44,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Spire during the third quarter valued at about $994,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $69.72 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.24. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.36 and a fifty-two week high of $73.64.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.02%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.50.

Insider Activity

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.