Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 106,386 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.35% of Spire worth $52,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 431.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $393,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $971,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Spire by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 18,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SR. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Spire Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $76.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.19 and its 200 day moving average is $68.28. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $78.80.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of Spire 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 owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.