Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,745 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.05% of Spire worth $2,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. 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 valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 431.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SR. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com raised Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Guggenheim upped their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.70.

Spire Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE SR traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $77.48. 365,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 388,069. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The company has a 50 day moving average of $76.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.67.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.