Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys Shares of 3,148 Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd 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 & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 87.2% during 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 during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Spire Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $77.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.21. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.27 and a twelve month high of $78.80.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. As a group, research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

Spire Company 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.