Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Reduces Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board decreased its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 60.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,946 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 91,605 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned approximately 0.10% of Spire worth $4,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $345,321,000 after acquiring an additional 65,486 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Spire by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,351,000 after purchasing an additional 72,119 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Spire by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 698,819 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,439,000 after purchasing an additional 69,020 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 646,206 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,483,000 after buying an additional 1,681 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Spire by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,852 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,477,000 after buying an additional 2,598 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $473,899.02. The trade was a 6.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $68.39. 326,499 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 415,009. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm's 50-day moving average is $65.56 and its 200-day moving average is $63.68. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.36 and a 52-week high of $68.44. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $3.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from Spire's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.37%. Spire's payout ratio is presently 75.48%.

Spire 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.